Emulators are software that allows the host system to act like another computer and with that in mind, Android Emulators are the excellent way one could smoothly run Android apps on a PC (referring to windows here) or a Mac other than using an Android device. The main idea here is the convenience, as most people would prefer to test apps on their available machines, before having them installed on their smartphones.
Android Emulators are becoming well known, and the popularity is increasing geometrically. From computer developers testing mobile applications to game freaks playing games on a large screen. Due to this fact, consumers have yearned for having so much experience with an Android operating system using a keyboard and a mouse together with high personal computer specifications.
You might be switching from iPhone to Android, you want to test a Custom ROM, and you can do this using Android emulator. One of the emulators that have topped the list of Android emulators for a personal computer is Bluestack (available for both Windows and Mac). Here are some best Android emulators that are available in the market right now.
Best Android Emulators for Windows & Mac
1. Android Studio Emulator
This android emulator is suitable for development purpose, it is a Google-approved emulator and it has been recommended for app builders. It has several features that allow developers to build apps and game apps. It has a different unique feature which has the ability to choose from multiple APIs. This app is not for consumer use but for app developers. It can be downloaded for free and start using it immediately.
2. Bluestacks
If not, skip to the next section, where we show you how to change the MAC address on your Android device without having root access. Install BusyBox from Google Play. Install Terminal Emulator for. Best Android Emulators for Windows & Mac. Android Studio Emulator. This android emulator is suitable for development purpose, it is a Google-approved emulator and it has been recommended for app builders. It has several features that allow developers to build apps and game apps.
Bluestacks allow you to run Android on your personal computer. This is the oldest Android emulators that are still available in the market and it is the most common of all the other emulators. Bluestacks has been named the best emulator over time. It is so easy to use, abundant features with paid and free version. It supports nearly every application on Google Play Store and allows consumer makes use of it.
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3. Andy
It is the best gaming Android emulator for computers. It is an emulator that has been around for some time. The early version of Andy had some issues and there have been several fixations since it has been released. This emulator can act as a replacement for those who don’t want to make use of Bluestacks or any other Android emulator. It can run on Mac systems and has a bug-free user experience which makes it among the best emulators for windows.
4. AMIDuOS
AMIDuOS is an emulator that has a free trial and two paid versions. The first is Jellybean, and the other is Lollipop. The only difference is their price varies from each other. The good thing about AMIDuOS is when you pay the required fee at once no need to pay again. The app is easy to use, when once it is set up. The app features of AMIDuOS centres on productivity. It is an emulator that can run a test on your apps without having any issue.
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5. Droid4X
The Droid4X has many issues and it is an ideal emulator for gamers. It can work well in every situation. The emulator was created having the Android gamers’ intent. Since it was created mainly for games and can be used for productivity purpose also. It is easy to install, comes for free and the Mac version is also available with a simple interface.
6. Genymotion
This is the best emulator that allows you to run Android on PC. If you are a developer, you are required to run a different Android version and you can check your apps, then this emulator is the best. Genymotion emulator is for developers that want to test all their games and apps on various devices without having the devices to test it. The emulator can be configured by the developers in order to emulate various versions of Android like 4.2 or 6.0. Genymotion allows switching between all the devices that have been created and suitable for developers.
7. NOX Player(BigNox)
If you are looking for an Android emulator for mainly games, then NOX player is the best emulator to pick and it is for free. NOX player brings maximum control to the gamers. It allows the user to have some advanced controls and features. This is the only emulators that allow users have a full control of their game. It offers several gamer-oriented features and a full-sized controller for games.
8. Remix OS Player
This emulator was amazing when it came out and for starters, Remix OS Player was the first Android emulators for windows that were running Marshmallow and Android 6.0. It is simple, easy to set up and once you are done, you can use it. This emulator has many features such as easy to install, can run Android 6.0 and solve gamers’ problems. The only disadvantage of this app is, it doesn’t support AMD and CPUs.
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9. Virtual Box
This emulator is different from all other Android emulator that we have on our list. Apart from being unique, it is the most complicated emulator that is available. The Virtual box is an emulator that can help you create yours. This emulator allows the consumers to create their own emulators. It is suitable for those who have good knowledge about coding. You will encounter a lot of problems while using the app but you can still fix it out. For someone who has no idea about coding, this will become a big issue later on.
10. Youwave
This emulator can be seen as an Android emulator that emerged from the Jurassic era. It is one of the older Android emulators for a personal computer. However, the good news about Youwave is it still relevant because it was updated last year. Youwave is still available for paid and free versions. The free version of Youwave won’t give you everything you are looking for but paying $29.99 will get you additional tools. Youwave is capable of doing the following such as playing games, handling productivity and it can be installed easily. This emulator is not suitable for gamers but it can play some lightweight games.
And that’s it for the top and best android emulators you can have installed on your workstations to have a perfect Android experience on your favorite platforms.
Mobile applications became an essential part of our lives, somehow we are dependent of them. We are using a lot of mobile applications every day. If you are lost in a new city, Google Maps gets you out of this situation. or if we want to make an appointment to the hairstylist, mobile applications assist us in our daily tasks.
It comes natural to us to use applications for everything that we need so it’s good to know that some applications might have security issues, and even know how to test their security.
Therefore, what if you want to learn how to do a mobile penetration test? Where would you begin? I recommend you to start from this article.
I will get you through the two big steps in order to install and root an Android emulator on your computer, which is the basis of an Android pentest.
Ok, enough talking, let’s jump to the interesting part. 💪
What would you need?
A rooted Android phone. What if you don’t have an Android Phone?! You should not worry about that, you can use an emulator of an Android device – which can be installed on your personal computer. An emulator is hardware or software that allows your computer (called the host) to behave like another system (called the guest). Emulation refers to the ability of a computer program in an electronic device to emulate another device. The emulator setup was tested using Ubuntu 18.10 – as the host and Android 7.1.1 – as the guest.
What steps should you follow in order to have your Android emulator?
1.Download the Android system image. You can do that by using Android-Studio.
Download and install Android Studio from here:
https://developer.android.com/studio/install
- Open Android-Studio , and select the AVD manager from the Tools tab.
- In the newly tab that have been open hit the “ Create Virtual Device ” button.
- Chose a device definition, (I have chosen Nexus 5X), and hit the “Next” button.
- Under the “x86 tab” , Select Android 7.1.1 ( Google APIs ) and hit “Download” button.
- After the download is finished, you can press the “ Next ” button.
- In the new tab opened, you can choose a name for your virtual device under the AVD Name field, all the other settings can be left as default. After that, you can hit the “ Finish” button.
- You might want to close Android Studio now, as the system image was already created.
2. Let’s turn on and root the emulator
Rooted Android Emulator Mac Download
- Open the Ubuntu terminal and type the following command:
$SDK_PATH/emulator/emulator -avd Your-emulator-name -writable-system -selinux disabled -qemu -enable-kvm
- The bold values should be changed according to your system. By default, after the installation of Android-Studio, the SDK_PATH is located in your home folder.
On my system, the following command is working:
$~/Android/Sdk/emulator/emulator -avd My-first-emulator -writable-system -selinux disabled -qemu -enable-kvm
- After the booting process is completed, on your desktop should be as in figure 3.
- Now, you have to open a new tab in the Ubuntu terminal and install adb.You can do that by typing the following command: $ apt install adb
Adb – Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command-line tool that lets you communicate with a device. The adb command facilitates a variety of device actions, such as installing and debugging apps, and it provides access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on a device. [2]
- After the installation of adb is completed, you can type the following command :
$ adb root && adb remount
The previous command will Restart adbd as root and remount system as writable. Make sure you restart the adbd while the emulator is running. - The next step is to install the Superuser.apk application to our emulator.
SuperSU allows for advanced management of Superuser access rights for all the apps on your device that need root. SuperSU has been built from the ground up to counter a number of problems with other Superuser access management tools[3]. In order to do that you have to type the following commands in the Ubuntu terminal:
$ git clone https://github.com/0xFireball/root_avd
$ cd root_avd/
$ adb install SuperSU/common/Superuser.apk
- At this stage, you should have the application SuperSU installed to the emulator. Next, you have to type the following commands in Ubuntu terminal:
$ adb push SuperSU/$ARCH/su /system/xbin/su
Instead of the bolded text $ARCH, you should type the architecture of your downloaded system image. In my case, the architecture is x86, so the following command will work for me, and should work for you too – if you downloaded the same system image as I did – $ adb push SuperSU/x86/su /system/xbin/su
In order to finish the rooting process you have to enter some more commands in terminal.
$ adb shell chmod 0755 /system/xbin/su – This command will update permissions of the file that have been pushed in the previous step.
$ adb shell setenforce0 This command will Set SELinux to Permissive mode.
$ adb shell su –– install This command will Install SuperSU’s su to system.
$ adb shell su –– daemon& This command will Run SuperSU’s su as daemon.
Finally, you can now open the superSU application on the emulator. The application will display the following message: The SU binary needs to be updated. Continue? Hit “ Continue” and use normal installation.
An error message is possible to de displayed : Installation failed ! Please reboot and try again. Don’t worry about it, hit the “OK” button and you will have a rooted Android emulator.
At this stage, your emulator should be rooted, but I recommend you to type the following commands in your terminal, otherwise, Superuser may not always persist after reboot:
Rooted Android Emulator For Pc
$ adb shell – This command will open a root shell from your emulator.
$ su –daemon& – This command will Run SuperSU’s su as daemon.
That’s it.
Your emulator should be rooted now, even if you reboot it. Next time you want to open your emulator, just type the command:
$~/Android/Sdk/emulator/emulator -avd My-first-emulator -writable-system -selinux disabled -qemu -enable-kvm
If you got here, well done!
You have just installed and rooted an Android emulator, on your personal computer. This is the first step in order to do mobile penetration testing, without having a physical Android device.
Android Emulator With Root Access
Write to us, in the comment section below, if the process went well for you or you have encounter any sort of problems. ✍️👇