The android play store is full of wonderful apps and games. There are many being added regularly and the library is expanding as more developers join in. There is a number of useful apps and games in the play store but unfortunately, they are all limited to the android operating system.
What if you want to use them on your PC? If you simply copy the apk file to your PC and assume it works then you are wrong, as the operating system does not know how to deal with those files.
This is where an android emulator fits in. An android emulator is a software program that can simulate the Android operating system and provides a platform for all such apps developed specifically to run on it.
Please note, there are many popular apps that already have their PC compatible version which you can use directly on your PC without any emulators for eg. apps like Whatsapp, Facebook. Telegram, Skype, etc.
Now, If you want to run android apps on your PC you will have to use an Android emulator. There are many such emulators available on the web for free and In this post, I have discussed some of the most popular emulators out there which will help you run your favorite apps or games on the large screen.
#1 The Android Studio Emulator
Have you ever wanted to play PUBG mobile or run android games on PC? QtScrcpy, a free and open-source screen mirroring application that allows you to control your Android device from a Windows, macOS, or Linux desktop computer promises to do just that. This Android emulator is an open-source OS based on Android that you can run on Windows 10 to run Android apps. It works on PC via a virtual machine, using a USB stick you can run it. Surely, it is a power user option hence not recommended for simple users. What's required to run Android apps on your Windows 10 PC? Other than a Samsung Galaxy phone (at least for now), you'll need a PC running the Windows 10 October 2019 Update or later. If you have the minimum system requirements, you should be able to run BlueStacks and enjoy all your favorite Android games on PC without a hitch or glitch. If you see any frame drops or other issues, you can change the screen resolution to a lower one. Another issue to watch for, especially on Windows laptops and tablets, is battery drain.
The Android Studio is the native IDE for android development and testing. Android developers use it to build, run and test Android applications right onto their PCs. This IDE already comes with a full-featured Android emulator that can easily be used to run Android apps on your PC. If you're an app developer, the built-in tool will be more than enough for you. You can run any android app in the emulator.
The emulator does not offer much customization options and lacks many useful features already available on other emulators out of the box. If you just want to test your apps on pc this would be enough for you.
Pros.
- Free to use, no ads
- Integrated with android studio
- Virtual hardware sensors
- Supports device emulation
Cons.
- Not suitable for playing games
- Lacks common features
- Slow performance
- Resource intensive
#2 Bliss OS
Bliss OS is not just an emulator it's an open-source android platform in itself similar to Windows and Mac. It's a fork of Android x86 Project. You can install and use it through a virtual box or boot it through a USB drive. If you want to you can install this on a separate partition and use it along with your other operating systems.
The Bliss Os features a desktop-style launcher, a taskbar, a bliss button and the ability to run apps in windows. The operating system supports all touch and non-touch devices which is another added advantage. It may sound like too much for an android emulator but the stability and performance is worth the try.
Pros.
- Free to use
- Runs Android apps and games natively, which means real high performance and smooth experience
- Desktop style interface
Android Games For Pc
Cons.
- Too much installation overhead
- Boot issues with multiple Operating systems on Linux
- Purely for android apps
#3 Bluestacks
Bluestacks is one of the most popular android emulators out there and has been around for a long time. it's available for both Windows and MAC and was the first emulator to be compatible with a wide range of android apps and games. The emulator has recently been improved for better performance, graphics, and support.
Its support for high-end games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty is absolutely amazing. The emulator also has streaming capabilities built right into it which is another added advantage.
Pros.
- Supports a wide range of apps and games
- Keymapping support
- Multi-instance support
- Multi-instance syncing capability
- HD Gaming
- Scripting support
Cons.
- Very resource-intensive
- Too many ads
- Performance & Compatibility issues
#4 Gameloop
Gameloop (also known as Tencent gaming buddy) is another powerful android emulator specifically designed for gaming. It only has a limited number of games that you can install and play but the list is expanding every day and includes all of the popular apps and games. I have been using this emulator for some time and I am really impressed by its performance and graphics quality. The emulator runs very fine even on average-spec PC.
Pros:
- Free to use
- Easy setup
- Highly customizable
- Super performance
- Keymapping
- Game capture
- Anit-fraud mechanism
#5 Nox Player
Nox Player is another powerful and popular emulator for PC that supports a wide range of android apps and games. It is very light-weight and still has lots of features built right into it. It also includes support for Google Playstore, and thus you can download and run any android app as you do on your smartphone.
This emulator comes with full root access and support for real device emulation which means you can mimic any device make and model.
It is highly customizable and has many unique features. The sims 4 pc disc. The Macro Recorder is one such unique feature, using which you can record all the sensory inputs like touch gestures, physical sensors like accelerometers or gyros, etc right when you play a game. You can then replay them again whenever you wanted.
Pros.
- Macro recorder
- Fast and smooth gameplay
- Highly customizable
- Real android device emulation
- Root access
- Ease of use
- Google play store support
- Gaming controller support
#6 MEmu
MEmu or Memuplay is another android emulator especially suited to games, relatively new in the market in comparison to others but lightweight and supports a range of android versions. The emulator is highly customizable, you can limit the CPU usage, memory utilization, resolution, and various other things. The overall performance of the emulator is quite good but still, some improvement is needed in the graphics part.
The emulator has recently been updated with many new features and fixes and also adds multiple touches and macro recording abilities. The latest version at the time of writing is MEmu 7.1.3. If you're looking for an emulator for gaming, you must give it a try once.
Wrapping Up
There are many other android emulators that I haven't mentioned in the post. The reason is either they lack important features or are especially suited to development processes. These are some of the emulators that I have used myself and was really impressed by their features and performance. If you have any suggestions or feedback. Please let me know.
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Playing games on Android is getting more popular by the year, but the sheer form factor of a mobile device sometimes makes you yearn for a bigger screen with stronger visuals and audio. That's why people are increasingly looking for ways to run Android games on PC. The best way to do this is to use Android emulators, but how do they work? What features can they give you, and what choice of games do they offer? Let's try to answer some of these questions.
What is an Android Emulator?
An emulator is a virtual environment that replicates a device that runs on a different operating system. By that definition, an Android emulator is one that allows you to duplicate Android OS environment on Windows, Mac and other OSes. This is one of the best ways to get a similar experience on a different platform, and there are some obvious front-runners in this category. BlueStacks is a great Android emulator, for example, as is the Nox Player.
Depending on the user preference, you can choose from numerous Android emulators that are now available on the market. The best part is that most of them are free, and you can even create your own emulator depending on your level of knowledge.
How Does Android Emulator Work?
Android emulators are generally very specific, and each one mimics the environment of a particular device by using something called the Android Virtual Device, which is created and managed by an AVD Manager. At the heart of the emulation process is QEMU, which is short for Quick Emulator, a hosted virtual machine monitor that lets you bring specific Android hardware and device experiences into the realm of Windows and other desktop operating systems. Essentially, what it does is to allow apps that have been designed for one type of OS architecture to run on a different one. In other words, this is how you run Android games on PC.
BlueStack - The Best Emulator to Run Android Games on PC
BlueStacks 4 is so far the best gaming emulator you're likely to find online, so let's take a look at how it works, what features it offers, and what kind of Android games you can expect to play on your PC.
The process of installing the app is exactly the same as any other Windows application. Once you download the file and double-click it, the BlueStacks installer takes over the rest of the process. The first step after basic installation is to set up your Google account exactly the way you would on a new Android device. Don't worry if you get certain alerts on your PC during the installation process regarding virtualization or hardware acceleration. If you're not familiar with these terms, it's better to stay with the default settings.
In the Home window of BlueStacks 4, you'll see three tabs: My Apps, App Center and Help Center. Go to the App Center, and you'll see a curated list of apps in grid and list form. It looks something like this:
What you're seeing is the native Android environment similar to what you'll see in the Google Play Store. If you want to go to the actual Play Store, you can do that by going to the System Apps folder in the My Apps tab in BlueStacks. Both these pages allow you to download games just as you would on an Android device.
The beauty of a good Android emulator like BlueStacks is that it allows you to control game elements with a keyboard and mouse instead of tap and swipe gestures. This is the real test for any Android emulator, or any mobile OS emulator for PC or Mac, for that matter. Depending on what system you're running it on, you may or may not see any performance degradation when playing the games. Let's explain this in a little more detail.
Potential Issues When Playing Android Games on PC
Performance degradation can happen when your computer's resources are taxed by the emulator. BlueStacks essentially runs the entire Android platform on your PC, which means you need a fairly robust computer with decent specifications. Since Windows 10 is already a heavy operating system, you'll need a good graphics card, a later-generation processor and at least 8GB of RAM to properly run BlueStacks without the app crashing every now and then or frames being dropped as you play the game. As such, running it on an old PC is not recommended.
Xbox iphone games. If you have the minimum system requirements, you should be able to run BlueStacks and enjoy all your favorite Android games on PC without a hitch or glitch. If you see any frame drops or other issues, you can change the screen resolution to a lower one.
Another issue to watch for, especially on Windows laptops and tablets, is battery drain. Since you're running the whole Android OS on your Windows device, it requires quite a bit of your device's resources. This is especially true when running graphics-intensive games like Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt 8: Airborne. You might also notice that your laptop heats up if you run the emulator continuously for a long period of time. Unfortunately, there's no simple way around this unless you know what you're doing.
How To Run Android Games On Pc
As you can see, the only issues you'll see are when you run resource-heavy games for a long period of time. As long as you can avoid doing that or have a PC that can handle that level of intensity, you should have zero problems using BlueStack or any other Android emulator to run Android games on PC.
App To Run Android Games On Pc
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