Apple’s Mac platform, recently renamed as macOS, is an impressive operating system that stands out for its innovative design and advanced features. It is the perfect companion to the high quality hardware that Apple manufactures. However, many Mac users would like to have flexibility to access content that is only available on other platforms. For instance, it would be practical to be able to run Android apps on your Mac and that is precisely what an emulator can help you to achieve. An Android emulator will allow you to access Android apps on your Mac and in this list, you will find the best solutions available.
Andy OS
Andy OS is also a great choice for Mac users who want to be able to use Android apps. However, it should be noted that you will need to have Virtual Box installed on your Mac in order to use Andy OS. Andy OS offers built-in support for Google Play and it also comes with a multi-touch feature. With this emulator, you will be able to use your phone as a controller, which will allow you to play games with ease. In addition, Andy OS supports Open GL hardware acceleration, Microphone, Camera and all other functions. The apps that you install with the help of the emulator can be accessed directly from the desktop. Andy OS can be downloaded from http://www.andyroid.net.
Droid4X
If you are looking for an emulator that offers powerful performance, the Droid4X is the right choice. It is ideal for gaming and will work well not only on macOS, but also on Windows. Droid4X offers configuration settings that allow you to use the keyboard of your Mac as a controller for gaming, helping you to enjoy your favorite Android games without issues. Droid4X has Google Play Store already installed and it has been previously rooted. With Droid4X, you enjoy a great level of compatibility and will be able to access millions of apps and games available for Android, directly on your Mac. You can easily drag and drop the apk file to start the installation. Once you get Droid4X, you can get your own virtual individualized Android handset with the configuration that suits your need. You can download Droid4X for Mac here: http://download.cnet.com/Droid4X/3000-2115_4-76201363.html
Genymotion
Genymotion stands out due to the fact that it lets you select the kind of Android device and the version of the platform that you use. If you want to get a specific type of device and run a particular version of Android, this emulator is a convenient solution. With Genymotion, you can can adjust the amount of resources that you want to allocate to the Android device, which is a fantastic feature that will come handy if your have limited hardware resources. Genymotion allows you to drag and drop file transfer to the emulated SD card and it also supports Gyroscope, Light and accelerometer. You can use Genymotion with ethernet, Wi-Fi and you can use you internet connection on your emulated Android device. Genymotion is also a great option for playing Android games on your Mac, thanks to the OpenGL hardware acceleration supports that lets you use your Android device in full screen. In order to use Genymotion, you need to set up an account on Genymotion cloud here: https://www.genymotion.com/account/login.
Xamarin
Xamarin is another option that offers a wide range of devices and covers functionality that will allow to enjoy a fantastic Android experience on your Mac. Rather than emulating a device, Xamarin can virtualize it. This can provide better speed in some cases and in addition, Xamarin supports OpenGL. You can download Xamarin from the following link: https://www.xamarin.com and enjoy all the advantages that it offers. Xamarin is not only practical for Mac users who want to try Android apps, it is also ideal for developers who want to test their apps on different platforms.
Bluestacks AppPlayer Android Emulator
Bluestacks AppPlayer is considered as the best emulator to run Android apps on your Mac, thanks to its LayerCake technology. This allows Android apps to run without needing an external Virtual Desktop App at all. In addition, Bluestacks comes with a search manager that lets you install any apk. You will be able to install .apk files into Bluestacks directly from the guest OS (macOS in this case) just by double-clicking. Another practical feature is that the apps can be launched from the MAC dashboard directly. Plus, you can get the Push notifications of the Android apps into macOS, which allows you to keep up with the apps installed in Bluestacks, within your Apple OS. You won’t need to spend a lot of time in the configuration because Bluestacks connects automatically, allowing you to access Android apps seamlessly. You can download Bluestacks from the official website http://www.bluestacks.com.
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