What are the best open-source Android emulators?

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3

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19

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Feb 28, 2019

Last
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Here’s the Deal

3 Options Considered

Best open-source Android emulators	Price	Last Updated
-- Official Android SDK Emulator w/HAXM	-	Feb 28, 2019
-- BlueStacks	-	Jan 4, 2019
-- Andy	-	Jan 28, 2019

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score 8 · Answer 1

Official Android SDK Emulator w/HAXM

Top Pro

Libre/Open source

Top Con

Setting up the whole environment is a hassle

Top Pro

Flexible interface

Top Con

Clunky UI around things like GPS and such

Top Pro

Works on Windows/Mac/Linux

Top Con

Can't place actual phone calls

While simulated phone calls can be placed and received, there's no call audio support. See More

Top Pro

Camera support

Top Con

No Bluetooth support

Top Pro

LCD density can be abstracted

Top Pro

Various power characteristics can be emulated

Via the power command, AC charging state as well as battery state, presence, health and capacity can be changed. See More

Top Pro

Accelerometer support

Top Pro

The virtual device is capable of recording and playing back audio

Top Pro

GSM emulated modem allows telephony emulation

Telephony emulation allows simulating incoming calls as well as establishing and terminating data connections. Calls can be accepted, but there's no support for call audio. See More

Top Pro

SD card emulation support

A disk image can be loaded into the emulator on startup to act as an SD card. This can be done via AVD Manager or mksdcard utility. While the SD card cannot be removed from a running emulator, files can still be moved, copied to and from, and removed from the card. The SD card can be of any size up to 128GB. See More

Top Pro

Allows sending an SMS to the virtual device

You can send an SMS using the command sms send <senderPhoneNumber> <textmessage> See More

Top Pro

GPS emulation support

Longitute, latitude and altitude information can be supplied to the device once it's running. NMEA 1083 formatting is optional. See More

Top Pro

Can simulate complex network environments

Each running instance of the emulator has a separate virtual router allowing complex simulations and setups. Network speed and delay can be simulated either by using presets for various network formats or manually entering desired values. It's even possible to interconnect one AVD to another AVD. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 2

BlueStacks

Top Pro

Easy to use and set up

For end users who are not developers, Bluestacks is perfect for the simple reason that it is just one click install, one just need to download the package and install it on windows or Mac to start accessing games and apps. It is just simple! See More

Top Con

Chinese Spyware

Top Pro

Can run multiple instances

Now, running multiple instances of BlueStacks is possible even with different Google Accounts. See More

Top Con

Default launcher hides almost all normal Android functionality

The default launcher acts like a portal to launch games and not much else. If you're looking for a stock setup without much tweaking, look elsewhere. See More

Top Pro

Decent performance

Top Con

Default home screen can not be customized and lags a lot

Top Pro

Designed with gaming in mind

Top Con

Does not run on Linux

Only for Windows and Mac OSX. See More

Top Pro

No need to register in order to download and install

Only a Google account is needed, which is the same as setting up an Android phone. See More

Top Pro

Can install apps from Stores and from APK files

Installing apps from APK files is important for developing purpose See More

Top Pro

Can transfer files between BlueStacks and Windows host

There are shared folders for this purpose. See More

Top Pro

Creates shortcuts for Android apps

A folder on the desktop with shortcuts to apps will be created. Opening a shortcut will start up BlueStacks and run the selected app. See More

Top Pro

Built-in search allows quickly looking up and installing apps

See All

score 2 · Answer 3

Andy

Top Pro

The virtual machine Andy runs in is highly customizable

With some tinkering, Andy can be set up to run with up to 3GB of RAM, the current Android 32bit RAM limit. It allows for a smooth experience and offers enough power to have multiple apps running simultaneously. The VM can even add more virtual CPU cores to Andy, doubling it's processing power or more. See More

Top Con

Quite resource intensive

Top Pro

Easy to get started

As long as virtualization is enabled in BIOS, the setup is straightforward. Simply download, install, run. First time the software runs it will ask to either log in with a Google account or create one allowing it to download software directly from the Play Store. See More

Top Con

Only installs in Windows Drive C:/

Which is where Windows is installed. What's more, it does not let you change the installation path. See More

Top Pro

Great application compatibility and stability

Andy is constantly optimizing for applications to perform better on their system. Their support staff has a reporting setup to get the right information to the developers as fast as possible. See More

Top Con

No Linux version

Top Pro

No signup required

Downloading Andy requires only one click with no email address or account needed. See More

Top Pro

All apps and settings can be synced between Andy and an Android device on the same network with 1ClickSync

While setting up Andy, 1ClickSync will ask for Google Account credentials that allow keeping apps and their settings in sync between Andy and an Android device. See More

Top Pro

Andy is available in over 40 languages.

For a full list of supported languages, see here. See More

Top Pro

Simple OS upgrade process

As of this latest version, users can be notified of new versions and incremental changes. It's possible to update only certain pieces or parts, rather than downloading an entirely new build. Andy is also exploring OTA update possibilities. See More

Top Pro

Fully functioning notifications and widgets

Andy supports all traditional Android widgets and notifications. It can even use apps like Push Bullet to send those notifications to their other devices. See More

Top Pro

Good customer support

Andy manages support mostly through a Facebook group where both knowledgeable admins and smart community members help answer questions. See More

Top Pro

Allows using a smartphone as a controller

It can't stream media to a phone, but it can work as a game controller. It allows for accelerometer- and touch-based interactions. See More

Top Pro

Allows installing third-party launchers

Andy comes with a custom clever implementation of ADW. It is theme-able, while functions very well without any modifications. The app sorting is a nice touch. Andy is compatible with most Android launchers. See More

Top Pro

Use of Genymotion VHD allows Andy to be very fast

Andy is built on top of the powerful Genymotion VHD. It takes advantage of OpenGL capable graphics cards allowing it to be one of the fastest Android emulators. See More

Top Pro

Can be rooted

To root Andy download this rootkit, extract the archive and run AndyRootkit30.exe. It comes with frequently installed root applications that can be installed in the process and also allows unrooting Andy. See More

See All

What are the best open-source Android emulators?

3 Options Considered

Official Android SDK Emulator w/HAXM

My Recommendation for Official Android SDK Emulator w/HAXM

My Recommendation for Official Android SDK Emulator w/HAXM

Libre/Open source

Setting up the whole environment is a hassle

Flexible interface

Clunky UI around things like GPS and such

Works on Windows/Mac/Linux

Can't place actual phone calls

Camera support

No Bluetooth support

LCD density can be abstracted

Various power characteristics can be emulated

Accelerometer support

The virtual device is capable of recording and playing back audio

GSM emulated modem allows telephony emulation

SD card emulation support

Allows sending an SMS to the virtual device

GPS emulation support

Can simulate complex network environments

BlueStacks

My Recommendation for BlueStacks

My Recommendation for BlueStacks

Easy to use and set up

Chinese Spyware

Can run multiple instances

Default launcher hides almost all normal Android functionality

Decent performance

Default home screen can not be customized and lags a lot

Designed with gaming in mind

Does not run on Linux

No need to register in order to download and install

Can install apps from Stores and from APK files

Can transfer files between BlueStacks and Windows host

Creates shortcuts for Android apps

Built-in search allows quickly looking up and installing apps

Andy

My Recommendation for Andy

My Recommendation for Andy

The virtual machine Andy runs in is highly customizable

Quite resource intensive

Easy to get started

Only installs in Windows Drive C:/

Great application compatibility and stability

No Linux version

No signup required

All apps and settings can be synced between Andy and an Android device on the same network with 1ClickSync

Andy is available in over 40 languages.

Simple OS upgrade process

Fully functioning notifications and widgets

Good customer support

Allows using a smartphone as a controller

Allows installing third-party launchers

Use of Genymotion VHD allows Andy to be very fast

Can be rooted

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