Not all of us can buy lots of real devices for testing.
That’s costly and time-wasting too. This is why emulators are born. It’s assured that emulators are far away from real devices in all aspects.
If you have experience with the Android default emulator, then you must know how frustrating that each moment we feel while testing our app.
So today I am going to talk about Genymotion. A free emulator – for personal use only. It has a paid version If you have any other plans.
So in this post, you will learn about
- What is Genymotion?
- How to create an account and download Genymotion?
- Download Genymotion Virtual Devices
- Download Genymotion plugin for Android Studio
- How to install gapps or google play services on Genymotion?
- Why Android Studio not detecting Genymotion device?
What is Genymotion?
Genymotion is a third party Android Emulator which helps developers to run and test apps. When compared to Android default emulators, It boots fast and quickly runs your app. It uses x86 architecture and make use of OpenGL hardware acceleration, that gives us a smooth operation.
Let’s learn, how to create an account on genymotion.com and download Genymotion.
How to create an account and download Genymotion?
Step 1
Search “genymotion free” on Google or go to “https://www.genymotion.com/fun-zone/”
Step 2
Click on the button named “Download Genymotion Personal Edition”.
Step 3
If you already have a Genymotion account, then you can sign in with your username and password. Otherwise, click on Create an account.
Step 4
Fill up the form with valid details.
Step 5
Tick the checkbox by agreeing on privacy policy, terms, and conditions. Now click on CREATE ACCOUNT button. Now Genymotion sends email to your registered email address.
Step 6
Go to your registered email account and click on the link like above.
Step 7
Click on the link “Download Genymotion for personal use“.
Step 8
I recommend downloading genymotion with Virtual box. If the virtual box is already installed on your pc, then you can select the second option. If you are a Mac or Ubuntu user, scroll down to see the download links.
Then click on the download button based on the operating system.
Download Genymotion virtual devices
Step 9
After downloading, Install Genymotion just like any other software in Windows. At last, launch Genymotion.
If you skip these step or you already installed Genymotion, then double click on the Genymotion icon and launch.
Step 10
When Genymotion launches, you can see a lot of virtual device templates. Select any one of them and click on the 3 vertical dot icon.
Step 11
Click “install” from the menu.
Step 12
You can configure the Genymotion virtual device here.
if you want the virtual keyboard tick on the checkbox Use virtual keyboard for text input, or you can use PC’s Keyboard. Click Install
Step 13
Download started.
Step 14
After the download completion, click on the three vertical dot menu on the right side and click on start.
Step 15
Genymotion virtual device started to load.
Step 16
Genymotion has successfully installed on your PC.
Next section will discuss on Genymotion integration with Android Studio.
Download Genymotion plugin for Android Studio
Step 1
Open Android Studio, go File->Settings
Step 2
1. Click on Plugins
2. Search Genymotion in search dialog box.
3. If genymotion not found, Click on Search repositories or Browse repositories.
3 and 4 are leading to same page.
Step 3
Click the install button.
Step 4
Restart Android Studio for changes to take effect.
Step 5
Click on the restart button
Step 6
After the restart, click on the genymotion icon.
Step 7
Choose Virtual devices from the dialog box and click on Start
Step 8
Now click on the run button, genymotion virtual device will be shown on chooser dialog. Select and Click OK.
Step 9
Done. Genymotion is successfully integrated with Android Studio. Now you can test all your application using the same steps.
How to install gapps or google play services on Genymotion
So many apps rely on google play services. Developers of Genymotion know that, So the latest version of Genymotion arrives with a widget named Open GAPPS. This widget simply installs play store in one click. Let me show you how to install play store on Genymotion.
Step 1
Genymotion provided with a GAPPS icon to install play store. Click on the icon.
Step 2
Click Accept.
Step 3
Download starts.
Step 4
Click on Restart now, it will redirect to GApps website.
Step 5
That’s all, play store is successfully installed.
Step 6
Install your favorite apps and games now.
Why Android Studio not detecting Genymotion device
After the successful installation of Genymotion, I too have faced this problem. Do the below steps to solve
Open genymotion software, on the top-left side, click on genymotion.
Click on settings
Click on ADB
Select the radio button with the label “Use custom Android SDK Tools” , locate your Android SDK through BROWSE button, When the location reaches Android-SDK folder, select and open. If you have selected the proper SDK folder, then it turns out to say this folder is valid.
That’s all. Now Android Studio can launch Genymotion easily.
Conclusion
By reading this post, you already understood that Genymotion is far better than Android default emulator. It boots fast and runs your app in less time, it also provides lots of other features. Although, It lacks wearable support. For making a wear app, you must use Android default ones.
So all I want to say is just give it a try if you never have used Genymoion. Let us know your experience with Genymotion and if you enjoyed reading this article, consider sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
