Re: Possibly off topic, asking about running android apps on an emulator

reeze wrote on Sat, 16 Nov 2024 22:48:22 -0700 :

So what I am hoping is possible is being able to
run their app in an emulator.

From your headers I presume you're on Windows where there are many Android
emulators on Windows, all of which I've tested but that was years ago.

Now I simply control my Android on Windows with the phone mounted as a hard
drive over Wi-Fi so the phone is about two feet tall & uses PC speakers.

At the time I wrote all the tutorials and posted them to the Windows &
Android newsgroups, the free Android emulators on Windows were from Google,
Arm, Microsoft, Genymotion, Andyroid, Bluestacks, Nox, Koplayer, Remixos
and MeMu.

Here's a cut-and-paste of an old summary I posted to the newsgroup since
I'm an unusually helpful person who loves to learn & disseminate knowledge.

  Google (Android ?, fails on older AMD CPUs but is the default for AS)
  Arm (Android ?, nobody recommends these, too slow to be usable)
  Microsoft (Android 6, works great on older AMD CPUs, integrates into AS)
  Genymotion (Android 7.1, everyone recommends for speed & compatibility)
  Andyroid (Android 7.1.2, simple setup where AS instantly recognized it)
  Bluestacks (Android 7.1.1, simple & runs fast, wouldn't work with AS)
  Nox (Android 4.4.2, targeted to gamers)
  Ko (Android ?)
  MeMu (Android Lollipop)
  RemixOS* (Android Marshmallow, incompatible with AMD)
 
 *Google Emulators* (Android 9)
  Google Emulators are the cat's meow, all the way to Android 9
  But they don't work on older AMD CPUs (on Windows only, apparently)
  One great thing about the Google emulators, is some have Google Play
  That allows people to run other software, e.g., NewPipe as one example
  Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio
 
 *Arm Emulators* (Android 9?)
  They are too slow on my machine to be worth the trouble
  Most people suggest ARM eabi-v7a for older AMD CPUs it's slow
  Does not appear to come with Google Play (which is important)
  Comes pre-integrated with Android Studio
 
 *Microsoft Emulators* (Last version, forever, is Android 6)
  The Microsoft Emulators are fantastic - but they stop at Android 6
  The Microsoft emulators don't appear to have Google Play installed
  They're the only emulators that work with Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V enabled!
  Very easy to integrate into Android Studio (as an external tool)
  <https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/msft-android-emulator/>
 
 *Genymotion Emulator* (Android 4 to 7 - and maybe 8 & 9)
  Generally considered superior to all other emulators on Windows!
  Most complex to set up (if things fail) due to Win10 & VMWare needs
  Very well integrated into Android Studio (even has its own plugin)
  I don't see Google Play (yet)
  <https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/>
 
 *Andyroid Emulator* (Android 7.1.2)
  This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
  This installs Bonjour and VMWare bundled "services"
  Comes with Google Play & F-Droid NewPipe came up, ran, but failed
  Android Studio recognized it instantly so it's nicely integrated
  <https://www.andyroid.net/>
 
 *Bluestacks4 Emulator* (Android 7.1.1)
  This is very simple to set up (turn off Windows 10 Hyper-V!)
  They seem to be very focused on running Android games on Windows
  Comes with Google Play & successfully ran F-Droid NewPipe tests
  I need to learn how to integrate it into Android Studio
  Drawback is that it has ads
  <https://www.bluestacks.com/bluestacks-4.html>
 
 *Nox* (Android 4.4.2)
  Targeted to gamers
  No ads
  https://www.bignox.com/
 
 *MeMu (Android Lollipop)
  Targeted to gamers
  Good support for AMD & Nvidia chips
  https://www.memuplay.com
 
 *Ko Player* (Android )
  Targeted to gamers
  Ad supported
  Said to be buggy
  http://www.koplayer.com/
  Updated: Nov 26, 2018 Version: 2.0.0
  http://down1.koplayer.com/Emulator/koplayer-2.0.0.exe
 
 *Remix* (Android Marshmallow)
  Incompatible with AMD chips
  Jide Technology has stopped supporting this
  It's an Android boot system
  http://www.jide.com/remixos
  Version 3.0.207 Release date: November 25, 2016
  It doesn't seem to be available in 2018

The caveat is I haven't touched any of these free Android emulators on
Windows since, oh, probably five years ago - so my conclusions may be
different today than yesterday - but I'd suggest Genymotion emulators.

As I recall, they force you to create an account but you can use a bogus
email address, and you have to state it's for personal use only though.

Note that Genymotion also donated the open source scrcpy/sndcpy software
which allows you to control your Android phone onto the PC which I use.