Box use android on pc It has its advantages, such as access to a large screen, being able to use the mouse and keyboard or easily testing applications on many devices. However, lately, the concept of emulators for playing Android games on Windows is gaining more and more traction.
If you’ve thought about trying an Android emulator for Windows but can’t decide which one, here you go. the best seven, all free and you can be up and running in minutes.
The official Android Studio emulator
If your goal is test new android features, nothing beats the official Android Studio emulator. Installing it is not as difficult as one might imagine and the latest versions, combined with a sufficiently powerful PC, have excellent performance.
with him you can both the latest and older versions of Android and emulate various elements such as camera, calls or GPS. The best thing is that it is pure Android with no weird stuff pre-installed which is common in other emulators.
BlueStacks
Bluestacks is one of the most popular and experienced Android emulators for Windows. It specializes in games, for which it includes special features such as key mapping or the possibility of opening several instances of the same game or being able to broadcast the games on Facebook Live, Twitch and Twitter.
Unlike the official emulator, Android on BlueStacks has little to do with the one on your phone. The latest version, BlueStacks 4 is based on Android Nougat (or Pie), which guarantees compatibility with most current games.
BlueStacksX
BlueStacks is great, but what if you didn’t even need to install it on your PC? This is precisely BlueStacks X, a free online android emulator where you don’t have to install anything. All you have to do is open their website in a browser.
BlueStacks X is a bit more limited than the installable version, as you only have access to a closed list of games. The good thing is that being a website, it is compatible with Windows, Linux, Mac, iPad, iPhone and pretty much anything with a modern browser.
Play
MEmu Play is another emulator that specializes in games. It is similar in concept to BlueStacks, with which you can use different versions of Android emulated, from Android KitKat 4.4 to Android Nougat 7.1.
Its benefits include the ability to easily transfer files between PC and emulator, Google Play integration, key mapping or GPS simulator with your own tool.
GenyMotion
GenyMotion was the emulator of choice for developers for many years and although it has now been superseded by the Android Studio emulator, it mostly survives. like a cloud emulator, allowing apps to be tested on countless devices with just a few clicks. Yes, against payment.
For personal use, GenyMotion has always a free versionyou just need it before registering a user account. With the personal use version, you have access to many profiles with different versions of Android, from Android 4.4 to current versions.
NOx
In the field of Android emulators for Windows, it is easy to have a certain déjà vu, as many of them are eerily identical. This is the case with NOX, KO Player and MEmu Play, although at least NOX has the advantage to be in spanish.
As for emulation, the latest version is based on Android Pie 9.0 (in beta) and several tools are included to map all sorts of touch controls so you can use mouse and keyboard instead.
game loop
GameLoop, also known as Tencent Gaming Buddy, is a Windows emulator where you can play mobile games on PC. Tencent is the Chinese company behind great games like PUBG and various licenses from Ubisoft, Activision or Square Enix.
This emulator is obviously intended exclusively for games, with the main objective of performance and the possibility of streaming online games on different services. In addition to its own games, you can use applications like Twitter or Google Play.