There are a lot of valid reasons why someone would want to run on their PC. App developers may be trying to test their application before shipping it out. Gamers may want to use a mouse and keyboard on their games. Maybe you just want it there to have it.

In any case, Android emulation on PC is possible and we’re going to take a look at the best Android emulators for PC. Please note, the process is rarely easy and some of these require some technical knowledge. There are only a few emulators where it’s as easy as downloading, opening, and using them.

The market slowed down a lot in recent years with many old favorites (Andy, AmiduOS, and Leapdroid) permanently leaving the space or becoming unusable without tons of issues. You can find out about their fates at the bottom of the article. Android Studio is the default development console for Android. It comes with a bunch of tools to help developers make apps and games specifically for Android.

As it turns out, there is also a built-in emulator that you can use to test out your app or game. The setup is rather complicated and it can take a long time. Thus, it's not one we would recommend for consumer level use. However, developers can simply use this tool as their emulator for testing their apps. It also supports Kotlin in case developers want to try that out. It's too much of a pain for regular people, but it's excellent for developers.

For even more options, check out our guides to the best puzzle games and best hidden object games. Be sure to check the system requirements, just to be safe. Mac App Store is the simplest way to find and download apps for your Mac. To download apps from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later.

ARChon isn't a traditional emulator. You install it as a Google Chrome extension. It then gives Chrome the ability to run Android apps and games (albeit with limited support).

It's not an easy emulator to get running. You'll have to install the thing to Chrome. From there, you have to obtain APKs and load them in.

As an added rub, you may need to use a tool to change the APK in order to make it compatible. There are a lot more steps to make this work than most other Android emulators for PC. On the plus side, though, it works with any operating system that can run an instance of Chrome (Mac OS, Linux, Windows, etc). We linked to the official GitHub where you can find detailed instructions on its use.

Bliss is something a little bit different. It works as an Android emulator for PC via virtual machine. However, it can also just flat run on your computer through a USB stick. This is definitely a power user option and not recommended for simple. As a VM install, the process is fairly simple, if tedious.

The USB installation method is even more complicated, but it lets your computer actually run Android natively from boot. That makes Bliss a super unique emulator if you can make it through the steps to the end. Of course, it only really runs well if your system is compatible so be prepared with a backup of your current operating system. The system runs Android Oreo and that's among the newer versions of Android offered on an emulator. This is a bit of a diamond in the rough, but again, we only recommend this one to the tech savvy. Bluestacks is the most mainstream of all Android emulators. There are several reasons for that.

This is /r/emulation - not /r/flashcarts or /r/consolehomebrew. All off-topic posts will be removed. All off-topic posts will be removed. There are very few playable commercial titles for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox one, and Nintendo Switch emulators. CoolROM.com's exclusive Mac emulators section. Download the latest emulators for GBA, NDS, N64, SNES, MAME, PSX, PS2, PSP and more here. A community just for emulators. Use the following search parameters to narrow your results: subreddit:subreddit find submissions in 'subreddit'. BlueStacks is one of the early Android emulators on the market, and one of the best Android emulators initiated the Android Platform Apps on the desktop PC and MAC. With regular updates and feature upgrades, BlueStacks emulator considers as the best Android emulator for Mac users too. Inheriting Google Play Store, a person can get more than a million apps and games. The Mac has long been a great platform for emulating older gaming consoles, and now the best emulator for OS X has gotten even better, as OpenEmu includes support for two other retro gaming greats; the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 1.