Top 3 Android Emulators For Windows – Run Android Apps On Your PC

Android is the biggest mobile operating system in the world by quite a margin, and this obviously means that it has huge developer support. The Google Play store has more than 1,000,000 apps, and this huge number includes some really great offerings. Some productivity apps, for example, look and feel better with a bigger screen and more control, like on a PC. Then there’s communication apps like WhatsApp, which aren’t available on PC’s natively but are quickly turning out to be one of the most viable means of communication, specially for users under the age of 30. Finally, there’s the huge amount of Android games, which can now be played on PC! No matter what you need it for, here’s the top 3 Android emulators for Windows!

The 3 Best Android Emulators For Your Windows PC

BlueStacks

Perhaps the most well known of the Android emulators out there, BlueStacks is a polished offering that enables you to run Android apps on your Windows or Mac PC’s. It does what its supposed to, but like all emulators, requires a fair bit of processing power. A few games and graphically intensive apps might be nigh unusable, but it’s getting there. As of today it’s still in beta version, so we can expect it to get better. A fair warning though, it’s not exactly an Android emulator, as in it doesn’t have the usual Android homescreen and such. BlueStacks is more of an app player, so judge accordingly. You can, however, add more functionality by installing a third party homescreen app.

YouWave

Unlike BlueStacks, YouWave is a full Android emulator, as in actually displays a replica of an Android homescreen, app screen and the like. YouWave is quite stable and fast, at least for an emulator, but there’s a catch. It’s paid software. You can only get a 10 day trial for free, if you want to continue using it, it costs 14.99$. Plus, a couple of apps that require the ARM architecture won’t run, so if you do plan on buying it, make sure it runs the apps you need.

Windroy

The newest kid on the block, Windroy (formerly known as WindowsAndroid) is quickly turning out to be an emulator of choice for many. It’s again different from the other two on the list, because even though it basically replicates the Android environment, there’s no Google Play Store app since it’s just a basic emulation. If you want to run apps, you need to download the actual .apk files from the internet. This isn’t too much of a hindrance, because Windroy is pretty much the only other stable and free way to run Android apps on your PC.

So those were our picks for the top 3 Android emulators for Windows to run apps! If you’re looking to develop apps, you’ll need the SDK and more tools on the official Android site, plus there are a lot of other emulators that let you test drive your apps. Do let us know if you use any of the above or have any other alternative!