If you are an iOS developer, having experience with Android can be a valuable addition to your portfolio of skills and experience.
- BlueStacks App Player. Well, BlueStack is one of the leading Android emulators available for.
- Modern, performant mobile apps with.NET and C#. Use.NET and C# to create native apps for the billions of Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows devices around the world. Add to that sharing code with any.NET app, empowering you to be more productive and build apps faster than ever across all platforms.
IOS may well be the platform we'd always recommend, but Android has a huge content of apps and games that are well worth exploring. Thankfully you can now do this on your Mac, even if you don't. If you have a PC, build Android apps. You do not need to buy a smartphone in the beginning. The software you use (xCode and Eclipse) to make the apps comes with a free phone simulator so you can view the app on your Mac or PC. To build an app, open an account with www.Buzztouch.com, which is a very affordable online app builder, and one of the.
This post walks through how to get started developing Android apps on your Mac. It will cover installation of the required tools, development of a first simple app, and running the app on the Android emulator.
![Mac Mac](https://www.igeeksblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Install-Android-App-on-Mac.jpg)
Whereas native iOS developers must develop on a Mac, with Android, you have the choice of Windows, Mac, or Linux.
To get started with Android on a Mac, download Android Studio for Mac. Android Studio is the official IDE for Android app development, and is based on IntelliJ IDEA.
Once you download the DMG file, you should land at an installation page with instructions to install and launch, but the steps are as follows:
- Launch the Android Studio DMG file.
- Drag and drop Android Studio into the Applications folder, then launch Android Studio.
- Select whether you want to import previous Android Studio settings, and then click OK.
- The Android Studio Setup Wizard guides you though the rest of the setup, which includes downloading Android SDK components that are required for development.
The wizard summarizes the components that will be installed, as the screenshot illustrates.
Once the setup is complete, you will see the welcome screen.
You are now ready to start developing Android apps on your Mac, so let's create a first app.
Click the Start a new Android Studio project., and then you can configure the new project.
Name it FirstAndroidMac, and you can leave all other settings the same, or customize the Project location and Company domain. Click Next.
Build Android App On Macbook Pro
You will see the Target Android Devices screen, so leave the defaults as they are.
Click Next, and if this is your first project, you should see the Installing Request Components screen, and you can click Next when it is finished.
You'll see the Add an Activity to Mobile screen, where you are offered various Activity templates. An Activity represents something that a user can do, and generally has one window associated with it. One Activity may represent a Settings screen, and another might implement a payment screen.
An app has a main Activity, which is the entry point of an Android app. If you are an iOS developer just starting to look at Android, this is like UIViewController for an iOS app.
An app has a main Activity, which is the entry point of an Android app. If you are an iOS developer just starting to look at Android, this is like UIViewController for an iOS app.
Select Empty Activity and click Next., which will lead to the Customize the Activity screen.
Leave the default values, including the MainActivity, and click Next. This will open the IDE.
Click on View > Tool Windows > Project, and then ensure Android is the selected view from the top drop down. You'll see the files that have been created for the project.
The MainActivity will be the first screen you will see upon launching the app. There is an activity_main.xml file which defines the user interface components for the screen. If you click on the xml file, you'll see that our empty activity has included a TextView that contains the ever so common 'Hello World!'.
Let's create an Android Virtual Device definition so that we can run the app on an emulator.
Select Tools > Android > AVD Manager. There should be one virtual device that exists by default in recent versions of the the Android Studio Virtual Device Manager. If for some reason there isn't one there, click Create Virtual Device... to create one.
Select a virtual device, and then under Actions, click the green play button to launch the emulator.
With the emulator now running, you can close the Virtual Device Manager if you like. Head back to your project in the IDE and click the green play button. You'll see the virtual device in the Select Deployment Target window.
Click OK to install and start the app on the virtual device. After the build and install has completed, bring the emulator window to the forefront and you'll see the app is now running. This will take some number of seconds.
You now have your first Android app running on a Mac!
Enter your text here...
Android emulators for macOS make it possible to run Android apps on a Mac. With this, one can enjoy over 2.8 million apps from the Play Store and elsewhere. There are several Android emulators for Mac, but BlueStacks is one of the best and easiest general users. It is actively maintained, and the community of users is vast. New features and improvements are routinely added as well. So let us dig right in and see how to install and run Android apps on Mac.
How to Run Android Apps on Mac Using BlueStacks
- Download
- Locate the BlueStacks DMG file in Mac’s Finder and double click to open it.
- You will see an image like this. To install, double click on BlueStacks icon.
- Click Open from the popup. (If you want to open an app from an unidentified developer in macOS, then check out this post.)
- Click on Install Now. Enter your Mac’s password when asked. Click on Install Helper.
Note: If you do not see Install Now, click on the BlueStacks icon from the Dock to view it. If you see popup error saying ‘move to trash’ or something, just follow it. Now, open the Applications folder or Launchpad, and you might see BlueStacks already installed. If the problem persists, restart your Mac and try again. - After successful installation BlueStacks will automatically open. Click on LET’S GO.
- Sign in with your Google ID.
- Click on Play Store. It will open in a new tab.
- Search for the Android app you want, and click on Install.
- Now, you can open this installed app and use it on your Mac. The app icon for all new apps that you download is created on the home screen inside BlueStacks.
Note: The triangle ◁, circle ◯, and square ◻ icons at the bottom row are navigation buttons. Use them.
BlueStacks is by far the most capable way to run Android apps and games on Mac. If you are a regular user, please do not think of any other way. But still, if you want to run Android apps without BlueStacks, then use one of the following Android emulators.
What are the Best Android Emulators to Run Android Apps on Mac in 2021?
That’s all, folks!
Signing off…
So, this was how you could install, run, and enjoy Android apps and games on your Mac. Please know that if you use any other emulator in place of BlueStacks, the process is almost similar, and you can follow them easily. Also, note that some emulators need you to install VirtualBox, and then only you can use them.
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What do you think about running Android apps on Mac? Which emulator are you using? Share your thoughts, opinion, and experience in the comments down below.
Jignesh Padhiyar is the co-founder of iGeeksBlog.com who has a keen eye for news, rumors and all the unusual stuff that happens around Apple products. During his tight schedule, Jignesh finds some moments of respite to share side-splitting contents on social media.
Run Android Apps On Mac
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