Mac Only iOS Only Android Only View More by Tim Fisher. This free Android emulator can run up to Android 8.0. The way it works is you install virtual devices by selecting the Android version you want and the device model that should run that version of Android. For example, you might select Android 8.0 and Google Pixel 2 XL to emulate.

The Emulator you pick for your PC depends totally on what features you need. The problem that most users face while using an Android Emulator is the heavy resource utilization. These tools consume too much of your PC’s power in order to function normally. So, for the best results and flawless performance, users need a lightweight Android Emulator. I have compiled a list of 10 best lightweight Android Emulators for PC. The lightweight Android Emulators that I have picked will run on Windows and Mac OS. The list is sorted with the best lightweight emulator being on the top and the order goes downwards.

Before we take a look at the lightweight Android emulators, let’s get a good understanding of such software and why do you need one. Google itself provides the Android SDK Tools which have the Android Emulator inside. The basic purpose of emulating Android on a computer was to allow the app developers to test their applications. Android Virtual Device environment allows the developers to select the hardware and software environment to make suitable devices for their applications.

The Android Emulators give a real-Android device experience to the developers. Use docker toolbox or for mac. They can emulate incoming calls, text messages and almost every single operation that they would carry out on a real Android device. This concept was taken up by different companies that later on came up with the emulators that required the users to do the least.

One such example is the BlueStacks App Player which was released back in 2011. Video editing software free mac. BlueStacks happened to be a complete package for those who just wanted a straightforward Android instance on their PCs without going through any complexity. Now that you have understood the purpose for the existence of Android Emulators, you must be wondering why an average user needs an Android Emulator? Well, the answer lies in the evolution of the tools. Over the past decade, the Android Emulators have evolved in such a way that users now prefer to run most of their Android apps on the computer instead, and of course, they should be doing it because it’s way cool.

Let’s understand how these tools can help you. Why do you need an Android Emulator? Here are the reasons why you would want to need an Android Emulator.

• You don’t have an Android phone and you want to enjoy the Android OS on your computer. • There is a cool game that you want to enjoy on a bigger screen. The emulator will let you run it. • Use your computer’s mouse and keyboard to play games.

Especially, the FPS games are more enjoyable this way. • An application that is available for Android and not for PC, you want to run it on your computer. • The sound effects of a game are good enough to run it on a computer. • The Android phone you’re using has a weak hardware that cannot run heavy games, on the other hand, the emulator will let you run the same game. • Your Android phone is running out of storage. Use the emulator to enjoy the available space on your computer. • An application or game that is worth using on a computer, can be downloaded on with the help of emulator too.

• You happen to be an application developer, simulating your applications on the emulator is definitely a good idea. • No device compatibility or OS compatibility issues because of the flexibility of emulators. Note: All the emulators require the virtualization technology enabled on a computer.

Follow this guide to Best Lightweight Android Emulators for PC BlueStacks BlueStacks is the oldest and the best in business. The BlueStacks has been discontinued for Windows, however, it still runs on the Mac OS. It is the best emulator for Mac. The BlueStacks is like an all-in-one package for those who simply want to enjoy an Android tablet running inside their computer. BlueStacks has a very nice UI. The moment you run BlueStacks on your Mac, you find a screen showing you the application suggestions, application tabs, and a notification bar.

Users can log in using their Google Account which gives them the access to the Google Play Store. The BlueStacks supports all the applications that exist in the Google Play Store. Since the BlueStacks is pretty old, it did not have so many options like Keyboard mapping, multi-instances etc.