You can set environment variables for Android Studio and the command-line tools thatspecify things like where the SDK is installed and where user-specific data is stored.This page describes the most commonly used environment variables.
LDPlayeroffers an ideal Android emulation system. It provides plenty of. With these Android Emulator For Mac, you can run apps for android, play games, and do pretty much anything like the Android device can (barring phone calls, obviously). Those are just the three.
The following example shows how to use an environment variable to launch an emulator when the SDK installation has been put in E:Androidsdk instead of in its default location of $USER_HOME or $HOME.
Variables reference
The following table describes commonly used environment variables for the Android SDK tools.
Table 1. Environment variables
| Android SDK environment variables | |
|---|---|
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT | Sets the path to the SDK installation directory. Once set, the value does not typically change, and can be shared by multiple users on the same machine. ANDROID_HOME, which also points to the SDK installation directory, is deprecated. If you continue to use it, the following rules apply:
|
REPO_OS_OVERRIDE | Set this variable to windows, macosx, or linux when you use sdkmanager to download packages for an operating system different from the current machine. Note: You can use Android Studio instead of sdkmanager to manage your SDK packages. See Update Your Tools with the SDK Manager. |
| Android Studio configuration environment variables | |
| The Android Studio configuration variables contain settings that customize the location of configuration files and the JDK. On start-up, Android Studio checks these variables for settings. For more information, see Configure Android Studio. | |
STUDIO_VM_OPTIONS | Sets the location of the studio.vmoptions file. This file contains settings that affect the performance characteristics of the Java HotSpot Virtual Machine. This file can also be accessed from within Android Studio. See Customize your VM options. |
STUDIO_PROPERTIES | Sets the location of the idea.properties file. This file allows you to customize Android Studio IDE properties, such as the path to user installed plugins, and the maximum file size supported by the IDE. See Customize your IDE properties. |
STUDIO_JDK | Sets the location of the JDK with which to run Android Studio. When you launch the IDE, it checks the STUDIO_JDK, JDK_HOME, and JAVA_HOME environment variables in that order. |
STUDIO_GRADLE_JDK | Sets the location of the JDK that Android Studio uses to start the Gradle daemon. When you launch the IDE, it first checks STUDIO_GRADLE_JDK. If STUDIO_GRADLE_JDK is not defined, the IDE uses the value set in the Project Structure dialog. |
| Emulator Environment Variables | |
By default, the emulator stores configuration files under $HOME/.android/ and AVD data under $HOME/.android/avd/. You can override the defaults by setting the following environment variables. The emulator -avd <avd_name> command searches the avd directory in the order of the values in $ANDROID_AVD_HOME, $ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/avd/, and $HOME/.android/avd/. Note: Starting with Android Studio 4.2, the ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is deprecated and has been replaced with ANDROID_PREFS_ROOT. For emulator environment variable help, type | |
ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME | Sets the path to the user-specific emulator configuration directory. In Android Studio 4.1 and lower, the default location is $ANDROID_SDK_HOME/.android/. Starting with Android Studio 4.2, the |
ANDROID_AVD_HOME | Sets the path to the directory that contains all AVD-specific files, which mostly consist of very large disk images. The default location is $ANDROID_EMULATOR_HOME/avd/. You might want to specify a new location if the default location is low on disk space. |
| The Android emulator queries the following environment variables when it starts. | |
ANDROID_LOG_TAGS | See ANDROID_LOG_TAGS. |
HTTP_PROXY | Contains the HTTP/HTTPS proxy (host name and port) setting for a global http proxy. Uses a colon (:) separator between the host and the port. For example, set HTTP_PROXY=myserver:1981. |
ANDROID_VERBOSE | See ANDROID_VERBOSE. |
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT | See ANDROID_SDK_ROOT. |
ANDROID_EMULATOR_USE_SYSTEM_LIBS | Contains a value of 0 (default) or 1. A value of 1 means to use the system's libstdc++.so file instead of the one that comes bundled with the emulator. Set this enivronment variable only when the emulator does not start on your linux system because of a system library problem. For example, some Linux Radeon GL driver libraries require a more recent libstdc++.so file. Note: There is no guarantee that setting this environment variable to 1 will make the emulator runnable. It is a work-around for system library issues that affect a very small number of Linux users. |
| Quick emulator (QEMU) audio | |
QEMU_AUDIO_DRVQEMU_AUDIO_OUT_DRVQEMU_AUDIO_IN_DRV | On Linux, you can change the default audio backend of the emulator by setting the QEMU_AUDIO_DRV environment variable to one of the following values:
You can also use distinct backends for audio input and audio outputs by selecting one of the QEMU values for the If you want to disable the audio support, use the
|
| adb environment variables | |
ANDROID_SERIAL | Use this variable to provide an emulator serial number, such as emulator-5555, to an adb command. If you set this variable, but use the -s option to specify a serial number from the command line, the command-line input overrides the value in ANDROID_SERIAL. The following example sets |
| adb logcat environment variables | |
ANDROID_LOG_TAGS | Use this environment variable to set a default filter expression when you are running logcat from your development computer. For example:See Filtering Log Output for more information and examples. |
ADB_TRACE | Contains a comma-separated list of the debug information to log. Values can be the following: all, adb, sockets, packets, rwx, usb, sync, sysdeps, transport, and jdwp. To display the adb logs for the adb clients and the adb server, set |
ANDROID_VERBOSE | Contains a comma-separated list of verbose output options (debug tags) used by the emulator. The following example shows ANDROID_VERBOSE defined with the debug-socket and debug-radio debug tags: Unsupported debug tags are ignored. For more information about debug tags, use |
How to set environment variables
The following examples show how to set environment variables in a terminal window and in a shell script for different operating systems. Variable settings in terminal windows last as long as the window is open. Variable settings in shell scripts persist across login sessions.
Windows: In a terminal window, type the following:
Alternately, add it to a shell script through the Windows UI. Check the documentation for your version of Windows to learn how.
Mac and Linux: In a terminal window, type the following:
Alternately, add it to your ~/.bash_profile file and source the file as follows:
We’re all well aware about the capabilities of the Android platform. There are smartphones today that can compete with a wide range of technologies. However, what makes those devices really tick is the core Android platform. But what if you own an iPhone and still want to try out Android phone ? Well, you no longer have to purchase an expensive (or inexpensive) phone to find out. There are best Android emulator for Mac today that can help you run and bring full compatibility with all the features of Android (without owning one), while some even update their emulators with the latest version of Android.
With these Android Emulator For Mac, you can run apps for android, play games, and do pretty much anything like the Android device can (barring phone calls, obviously). Those are just the three main uses of a built in emulator. So we’re going to talk a bit about some of the most popular emulators out there. While some user friendly emulators are present here, we’re also going to talk about developer emulators that can help test out or run android apps and android games.
Instead of giving your only 5 best emulators, we are citing 7 on this post for cross platform. So let’s get to the best Android apps and games emulator for Mac.
Best Android Emulator For Mac
1. ARChon
ARChon is a little different than most of our best Android emulators for PC or Mac in that this one is actually a Google Chrome extension. That’s right — no installing a program on your machine and wasting precious storage space! It is comparable to a virtual machine, virtual device or virtual devices.
Of course, it’s certainly not nearly as seamless as a native program, as it can take a bit of fiddling to get apps and mobile games to work. To use ARChon, once you have it setup in the browser, you’ll have to push or drag APKs to load the apps within the browser. It’s a nice, free program for those that want to be able to use an Android emulator wherever there is Google Chrome.
Not sure where to find APKs for ARChon? You can find many of them for free over at almost any Android APK repository. Some of our most trusted and favorites are APK Mirror or APK Pure.
Download it now:here
2. VirtualBox
Believe it or not, you can actually use VirtualBox to create your own Android emulator for Mac. Download VirtualBox on your Mac machine, and then set it up with the necessary ISO image from Android-x86.org. You’ll be able to create an efficient emulator that allows you to play almost any game or app within Mac.
As an added bonus, VirtualBox gives you a lot of control over how much resources and hardware you devote to it. That allows you to keep your overall machine running smoothly while still running your Android operating system emulator in the background. VirtualBox is free to use; however, it is recommended that you have at least 8GB of RAM on your machine if you want to run this one.
Download it now:here
3. KO Player
KO Player is a relatively new entrant in the emulators game and is one of the newer Android emulators on the list. It markets itself as a mid-market emulator that can run apps and multiple games comfortably. While the focus is mainly on games, this is a full blown Android emulator, so it can run pretty much any app on the Play Store as long as it is compatible with the Android version. The company’s website doesn’t mention which version of Android it’s running, but talks about a few popular apps and games that are compatible with KO Player (WhatsApp, Clash of Clans etc).
It also comes with features like gameplay recording, keyboard gameplay support, and comes with the Google Play Store pre-installed. It is said that about 99% of the Play Store apps are compatible with KO Player. The best part here is that KO Player is a free download, and can be snatched up directly from their official website. As with any free offering, expect some minor issues during usage. However, the app developers are pretty keen on offering a fresh and refined experience through bug fixes.
Download it now:here
4. Nox Player
This is yet another decent alternative for gamers. It comes with the ability to run android games, support joysticks and controllers (assuming your Mac supports actual hardware controller support). There is zero lag during gameplay or general usage, so you can be assured of a smooth performance. Among the list of features here is the ability to keep multiple accounts on Nox, which is handy if you want to use it on the family computer. You will find that the emulator is compatible with pretty much every popular game and app right now.
Further, the emulator is compatible with x86 as well as AMD processors, thus bringing a variety of devices under its compatibility list and access to most Android games. Like with KO Player, Nox allows users to record their screen and share it on social media as they please. It’s one gaming oriented emulator can be very handy for graphics heavy games available as well as strategy games like Clash of Clans and Fortnite (which will reach Android emulation shortly).
More importantly, it’s light on your computer, much like helping it run smoothly and devoid of lag. This is also a free offering with no hidden caveats. Nox also offers the keyboard mapping feature, so the user can play more efficiently with mouse and keyboard. If you are one of those mobile gamers, this one is for you as it is considered as the Android emulator for gamers.
Download it now:here
5. Bluestacks
Bluestacks is probably the most popular Android emulator currently available in the market, and with good reason. This app has served Windows and Mac OS users for a few years now, giving them a viable way using Android on their desktop. This isn’t an ideal setup for developers, though, as Bluestacks is marketed for the masses. This means there will be some lag when you operate, although it’s rapidly diminishing with each update. The recent version of Bluestacks was updated to Android Nougat, making it the freshest Android emulator out there. It’s too soon to tell if and when Bluestacks will update its offering to Android 8.0 or even 9.0 as the latest Android version, so it will have active updates nearly every month.
As it stands, if gaming and social media is your priority, Bluestacks is an excellent emulator to have as it aims itself at gamers. GameLoop is an Android emulator that is used as a gaming platform. It can run all the heavy games and even offer key mapping support, which has become a prerequisite with modern day Android emulators and can bring the better or for worse Android app and game on your Mac. With the added smart keymapping along with a customizable game support, this android emulator is mostly going to boasts a gamer experience.
Bluestacks official emulator is entirely free to download, but will require a subscription per month for continued usage.
Download it now: here
6. Genymotion
One of the newer emulators if you want to run Android on your Mac is Genymotion. We are now coming to the dev-friendly emulators out there. You won’t find all the bells and whistles that you probably see with Bluestacks, Genymotion lets you test out how an Android device and version would work with a particular app or supports Android operating systems. For example, you can have a Nexus 4 running Android 5.0 or an even older device running that version like Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Kit Kat(assuming it’s compatible).
Genymotion can let you run an emulator directly on your PC or on the cloud, which very few emulators out there can do. This means you can share the functionings of your app with the rest of the world without them having to download a dedicated emulator.
This is a game changer for developers who like to get opinions on their projects from the masses or close associates. Naturally, the android emulator for PC option is also present, so you’re free to use it the old fashioned way. This isn’t a free version offering for personal use, though, so be prepared to subscribe to one of Genymotion’s plans to reap the benefits of all the features mentioned above.
Download it now: here
7. Android Studio
Google’s very own Android Studio emulator also comes with an emulator you can download, although it’s significantly less flashy than a few commercial use emulators and actually run android natively. However, it is updated frequently with new features. This is designed specifically for budding and experienced Android developers to test out their apps before it is pushed to the Play Store. It works with both PCs and Macs, so neither platform is left out. It has all the tools to build and design your apps, while the emulator feature allows you to glance through your creation.
Given the feature set, it is definitely not recommended for amateurs, as setting it up could take some time. Android Studio is a free download on both major platforms, and is a 880MB download for Macs. Though updating those services may take time, watch out for more active development in years with this productivity emulator.
Download it now: here
While these emulators offer a great experience for your Mac as it runs android apps/games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG mobile, this may also create a negative effect on your device as the level use might increase, especially with the battery life. Running multiple emulators may affect your device operation as it depends on the operating systems and hardware.
Android Emulator Android Emulator Mac Stack Overflow System
Always test your apps or test apps on the emulator you install once you’ve downloaded them and see the emulators ability to run smoothly and see if it is usable as a productivity tool for PC and Mac. There are still best android emulators that you can discover around the web that can run an Android app or game. The installation process may take longer than expected, depending on various factors such as internet speed and the likes.
Best Android Emulator For Pc
If you find another Android emulator or free android emulator that is actually a fairly decent, actually works pretty well and that suits your taste, feel free to use it as long as it runs well or work well, gets the work done or the emulators run properly. You can use emulators as a productivity tool for video loading or loading video. Just find one that supports this kind of function. You might be able to get the price free for personal use just like PrimeOS Remix OS player and other Android Studio S emulator or ldplayer android studio.