Using Android Studio Virtual Machines - Emulators

 

 

Android Studio Virtual Device Manager

If you want to test your app on a variety of devices you can do so without owning the hardware - instead you can run your app programs on virtual devices on your computer screen to see how they will function before you put them in the marketplace.

 

You can select the Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager in Android Studio above the Main Editor Window.

 

 



In the manager window click on Create Virtual Device

In the configuration window select the hardware type you would like to test with and hit NEXT

In the System Image window, use the recommended armeabi-v7a  (with Google APIs) which should work on most desktops without the need for additional emulator compatibility steps - hit NEXT

To verify the configuration - Hit FINSIH

Hit the Play Button next to the newly created virtual device to launch it and then close the manager window

The Virtual Device will then open and boot - the boot time is similar to an actual device

Running Apps on the Android Studio Virtual Emulator

You can run your app project on the virtual device by hitting the RUN APP button just above the Main Editor Window in Android Studio

Choose the emulator device you want to run your app on (or launch a new emulator device) and hit OK

If it doesn't work the first time just try it again - I had to rerun this a few times and wait a while for it to run properly