Linux might not be as popular as Windows, but it still is used by millions of people. That said, if you are a Linux user, you may surely want to run Android apps on your machine, be it for development, or for merely messing around with apps. That said, we are here with a handpicked list of best Android emulators for Linux using which you can quickly run Android on Linux.
Best Android Emulators for Linux to download
- Genymotion
- Andy OS
- Anbox
- Android SDK
- Android-x86
For starters, an Android emulator is a software that emulates Android OS on your computer. While Windows and macOS have plenty of Android emulators available in the market, Linux lacks behind by a considerable margin.
That being said, if you are looking forward to testing and debugging or just trying out an Android app or game on Linux, you can run Android on Linux using an emulator. Fortunately, there are a few Android emulators for Linux that are worth giving a try. So, below is the list of best Android emulators for Linux to download right away!
1] Genymotion
Genymotion is indeed one of the most heard names when it comes to best Android emulators for Linux. It has a highly intuitive and clean user interface. Furthermore, it not only lets users run Android virtual devices in the desktop but also on the cloud.
Notably, Genymotion gives you an option to choose from 3000+ virtual Android device configurations. Thus, it makes it quite easy to find pre-configured images of different Android versions and device images of your choice without any hassle. You can even allocate resources like memory, storage space, I/O units as per your requirements. Developers can use Genymotion to test their apps thoroughly while casual users can still play games and surf apps on this powerful emulator.
Check out Genymotion here!
2] Andy OS
Andy OS is yet another powerful Android emulator for Linux, also available on Mac. Particularly, Andy is inclined more towards gaming. Hence, whether you want to test your games for Android or pass your time by playing big titles, Andy is the way to go. You can throw any game at it without worrying about handling or performance.
However, make sure to allocate proper resources to the virtual environment if you want lag-free experience in massive games. Andy OS does offer Google Play Store so that you can directly install apps and games.
Check out Andy OS here!
3] Anbox
Anbox (Android In A Box) is an open source software for emulating Android apps on Linux, or we should say- a sandboxed Android Run Time (ART) that works on Linux systems. As the name suggests, it opens Android in a virtualized environment, in a separate window, similar to other programs on your machine.
Anbox runs the Android system as a whole, based on Android 7.1 Nougat, allowing for a flawless experience to work with apps. It puts every element of the Android OS into an optimized container and combines its core services directly with your Linux system. The only con with this emulator is that it doesn’t ship with Google Play Store. However, it does let you install third-party apps using their respective APK files.
Check out Anbox here!
4] Android SDK
Android SDK could be one of the best Android emulators for Linux if you are an App or Game developer. The SDK and Android Studio when combined work together to emulate Android software on your machine using local resources.
Officially backed by Google, the software lets you create multiple virtual devices running anything from Android Lollipop to Android Pie. It even supports the creation of virtual WearOS and virtual Android TV to test apps for the respective devices.
Notably, the SDK has all the necessary features to test applications. You can not only change rotation, location, battery, and network conditions but also play with the camera. It gives endless possibilities to professional app developers. Nonetheless, a major con with the software is its loading time. It takes more time to process things compared to other third-party emulators. Also, the Android SDK combined with Android Studio makes up for a rather large file, hence may take time to download and install.
Check out Android SDK here!
5] ARChon
ARChon is an entirely different Android emulator for Linux that can run Android apps in Chrome. Interestingly, Archon doesn’t function inside a Virtual Machine. It doesn’t require installing an emulator either. Instead, it makes use of the Chrome browser’s powerful runtime and joins the emulation compounds directly into the browser. It lets you convert regular Android apps into ARChon compatible apps.
Once done, you can run applications on your Linux directly without the need of any virtual machine or a dedicated emulator software. Note that it has limited support for apps and hence we’d recommend using emulators present above to run massive games and apps. If in case you have an old Linux machine and want to make it productive without going harsh with the hardware, Archon is the way to go.
Visit here and follow instructions to download Archon!
So those were five best Android emulators for Linux that are truly worth checking out. Note that Android emulators work relatively better on Linux as the base or kernel of the Android OS as a whole is already based on Linux.
Nonetheless, many professional emulators like Bluestacks and NOX aren’t available on Linux yet. As a result, people tend to download unreliable emulators which later turn out to be a waste of time. Using the above list, you can prioritize your needs and download the one which suits well. Anyways, do let us know if you have any other recommendations for the same.
