Top 8 Best Android Emulators to Run Android Apps on PC in 2021

Published (updated: ) in Android Emulators. Tags: best android emulator, Top 3 best Android Emulators.

With Android emulators, it’s very easy to run Android apps on your PC. Most commonly, gamers use an Android emulator to play games on a relatively bigger laptop or desktop experience. Most of these Android emulators are available for Operating Systems such as Windows and Mac, but some are exclusively made for Windows PCs. Apkonline, free Android online emulator is a web browser extension to start the official free android online emulator with a simple click from your web browser. Its goal is to allow end users to run any Android app from anywhere when online using HTML5 and Javascript technologies. Apkonline, free online Android emulator runs the SDK android.

Today I am going to show you the best Android emulators that you can use in order to run Android apps. With these Android emulators, you can run Android games and Apps and also test your developed apps.

Contents

• 4 2021’s Best Android Emulators For Windows 10
• 5 Conclusion

What is an Android Emulator?

Android is a Linux-based open-source operating system that is used for mobile platforms like smartphones, tablets, etc. An Android emulator acts as a bridge between the user’s Android device and the computer’s strong resources.

Android Emulator 10.0.2.16

In simple terms, an Android emulator is a third-party application that will let you play Android games and apps on top of your current Windows or macOS powered systems. Let us explore how does an Android emulator works and also list down the best Andriod emulators out there.

How does Android Emulator work?

Android emulator works on a mechanism known as complete platform virtualization for both hardware and software. The AVD manager helps users set up the virtual device and do the configurations of the virtual devices. It has all the information on device type, system image (ABI), and then it verifies the configuration.

The Android emulator actually mimics the device hardware that helps in translating the ABI to match the host device. After that, the user integrates it with the operating system and it afterwards runs like an application on the system.

Comparing Top 3 best Android Emulators

2021’s Best Android Emulators For Windows 10

There are a lot of Android emulators out there in the market, but I have brought you a list of Top 8 Best Android Emulators to Run Android Apps on PC in 2021. The reason these emulators have been selected is our personal experience.

Bluestacks

Bluestacks is one of the most popular Android emulators out there and this is the reason this is number one in our list of Top 8 Best Android Emulators to Run Android Apps on PC in 2021. It is equally good for using applications and games and is super easy to set up. You can download apps and games from BlueStacks optimized apps from its own app store.

Bluestacks is currently based on Android 7.0 Nougat. Bluestacks is free to use but if you want to use the premium version it will cost you around 24 dollars. This emulator is fairly optimized for gaming and it is claimed that it works 6 times better than Samsung Galaxy S9+.

If you know all the steps of installing Bluestacks on a PC, then you can go through this article to know all the processes. If you don’t find a specific game or application in the Google play store, you can easily download its apk and Bluestacks will allow you to install that as well.

Android Emulator 10.0.2.2

Nox Player

Unlike Bluestacks, Nox Player targets gamers, because it can support big games like PUBG with a very smooth experience. The best part of Nox Player is that it won’t show any sponsored ads at all, so you can enjoy a seamless experience.

It allows you to map keys of Keyboard, Mouse, and Gamepad. Not only this you can also assign keyboard keys for gestures, like, mapping shortcuts for swiping right, and this is a really cool feature. It offers customization of CPU and RAM as well in the settings option to get the best gaming results.

Nox Player is based on Android 5 Lollipop, which is quite old now and this can be a problem for some users. Another issue with Nox Player is that it puts too much load on your system so you can’t run many apps at the same time. These are all the features that make Nox app Player second in our list of Top 8 Best Android Emulators.

MEmu

MEmu put its horses in the race pretty recently as it was launched in 2015. Like Nox Player, MEmu also focuses more on gaming rather than apps. The most noticeable feature of MEmu is that it supports both AMD and Nvidia chips. MEmu can run on many Android versions like Android Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop.

It supports keyboard mapping options to enhance your gaming experience. Additionally, you can install games and apps from the Google Play store or install from apk by simply dragging and dropping. You can even run multiple instances at once for multiple games or testing features.

This emulator is available for free but contains ads, and if you want an ad-free experience then you can buy its premium version of $2.99/month where you won’t only get ads disabled and also get more customization options and enables premium support options.

GenyMotion

GenyMotion is included in the Android emulator category but it is essentially built for developers. You can test your newly created application on a variety of virtual devices with different Android versions. It is compatible with both Android SDK and Android studio.

Built for developers, it has so many options developers-friendly options. The drawback is that it is not available for free and you will be charged over $136/year. It has a high definition pixel compatibility which shows your mobile app with great clarity on systems.

It also allows the user to forward gyroscope and multi-touch events from any Android device connected to the users’ desktop. It is equipped with strong sensors like GPS, multi-touch, gyroscope, proximity sensors, and more.

Android Studio

Just like GenyMotioin, Android Studio is also a heaven for developers. It is basically an IDE from Google that caters to developers. You can easily test your applications on this emulator. The setup is rather complicated so it won’t appeal to everyone but it is by far the fastest and most feature-rich option on this list if you are a developer.

Android Emulator 10.4 Online

You can download games from the Google Play store where you can add custom launchers and keyboards, and emulate any size or form-factor device. GenyMotion has comparatively more features, but this one is also a promising emulator.

LD Player

LD player is one of the recent most Android emulators but it has gained so much popularity due to its clean interface and amazing features. LD player runs on Android Nougat 7.1 and if you are looking for an Android emulator for Windows 10 that is focused on gaming, then LD player is one of the finest choices.

It comes with a built-in app store from where you can download games that run quite well on LDPlayer. It also comes with the support of virtualization technology which will improve your performance. It will comfortably run on Intel-based Windows PCs and even AMD as well.

Bliss OS

Bliss OS is not a pure emulator like emulators emulate Android on your Windows PC, while Bliss OS is actually Android itself, and need to be installed as a separate OS. The installation is somehow difficult like you could use a Virtual Box or you can create a bootable USB drive and install the Bliss OS ROM on the external storage.

The USB is a bit difficult to execute but it lets your computer actually run Android natively from the boot. One thing is guaranteed, if you go through the installation process successfully, then Bliss OS will give you a super unique experience of Android emulator. One thing to be noted is that it only really runs well if your system is compatible so be prepared with a backup of your current operating system.

Android Emulator 10.4 Download

GameLoop

As the name indicates, GameLoop(formerly known as Tencent Gaming Buddy) is made for hardcore gamers. You can play all the heavy games on this emulator like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile. If you are someone that is looking for an emulator that works well for productivity apps or developmental purposes, then GameLoop is not the right choice.

Android Emulator Mac Os X 10.4

Conclusion

Android Emulator 10.4 Windows 10

The best Android emulators that we tested was Bluestacks, keeping in mind that our primary goal was to run Android games like PUBG on our PC. It is not a hard and fast rule but rather it depends on your preferences, if you are a developer, then you should opt for GenyMotion or Android Studio.

Android Emulator 10.4 Free

But if you are a gaming lover like me, then GameLoop or Bluestacks has no match. If you have any query regarding installing Bluestacks on Windows or macOS, we have written detailed articles that will be so helpful.