Run android on desktop

Use apps from your Android device on your PC

With Your Phone apps, you can instantly access the Android apps installed on your mobile device right on your PC. Using a Wi-Fi connection, Apps allows you to browse, play, order, chat, and more – all while using your PC’s larger screen and keyboard. You can add your Android apps as favorites on your PC, pin them to your Start menu and taskbar, and open them in separate windows to use side-by-side with apps on your PC – helping you stay productive.

Note: For the best experience, we recommend making sure your Android device and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network and band. Some Wi-Fi networks offer different connection bands, like a 5 GHz or 2.4 GHz band. Make sure both your devices are connected to the same one. Learn more about how to do that in our Wi-Fi troubleshooting help.

How do I interact with apps?

You can use your PC’s mouse, trackpad, keyboard, pen or touch-enabled screen to open, type, scroll, and interact with apps. A few tips for using your mouse and keyboard:

Single click will behave the same as any single touch/tap interaction

Right click anywhere on your phone screen to navigate to the previous page

Click and hold will behave the same as a tap/hold interaction

Click and hold and drag to select content

Mouse scroll to move between pages vertically or horizontally

Some games and apps might not work with a mouse or keyboard. You’ll need to use a touch-enabled PC to interact with them.

If you’re encountering issues using Apps, our troubleshooting tips may help.

How do I know I’m using the multiple apps experience?

The requirements for using multiple apps are:

A PC running the Windows 10 May 2020 Update or later. For best performance, we recommend having at least 8GB of RAM.

An Android device running Android 11.0.

On your Android device, you need Link to Windows version 2.1.05.6 or higher, or Your Phone Companion version 1.20104.15.0 or higher.

Your Phone versions 1.20104.20.0 or higher.

How do I pin Android apps into Windows?

You can pin your Android apps to the Windows Start menu, taskbar, or add it to Your Phone app favorites.

To pin an app on your PC:

Open the Your Phone app

Right click on the app icon you want to pin or add to your favorites

How do I remove pinned Android apps from my Windows taskbar or Start menu?

If you’ve pinned an app to your taskbar, just right-click the app icon and select Unpin from taskbar.

If you’ve added an app to your Windows start menu, you’ll need to uninstall the app from your apps list. Go to Windows Settings > Apps & features, search for your app in the list. Select it, then select Uninstall.

Are the apps from my Android device now installed on my PC?

No, apps you open will be running from your Android device. The Your Phone app is mirroring apps from your Android device to your PC, meaning you’ll see the same thing on your PC that’s being displayed on your Android device.

Can I access Android apps without linking my device?

No, you need to connect your Android device to your PC via the Your Phone app in order to use this experience. Learn more about how to set up Apps here.

Can I open multiple apps at the same time?

If you have Android 11 on your Android device and one of select Samsung devices, yes. For most other Android devices, you can only open one Android app at a time.

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5 Free Ways to Run Android Apps on Your PC

Want to use Android apps on a PC? These are the apps, services, and OSes that can make it happen.

Ever wish you could run an Android app or game on your PC so you weren’t relegated to a tiny phone screen? Maybe you need to test a feature on Android, but don’t have an Android device handy. Your options will depend on what mobile device you own or what version of Windows you’re running, but here are a few ways to run Android (and its apps) on your computer.

Mirror Your Phone With Windows

For apps installed on your phone, you don’t need anything fancy to get Android on your PC. Microsoft’s Your Phone app allows you to connect your Android mobile device to Windows in order to access apps, view notifications and photos, and send messages. You can even add Android apps to Favorites or pin them directly to the Windows taskbar.

If you want to mirror your phone screen directly, just click the phone screen image in the Your Phone desktop app. Grant permission to the app on your phone, and your phone screen will be displayed in Windows. You can then navigate the phone screen with the click of the mouse.

This isn’t always the ideal solution. While the feature will work with many Android phone manufacturers, it works best with Samsung phones. Some features require a Windows 10 PC running the May 2020 Update or later with at least 8GB of RAM and Android 11. If you’re looking to play games, this may come with some delay and graphical blurriness, and you won’t be able to easily share files from your PC directly to an app in Android. But for quick access to Android apps you already have installed, it definitely works in a pinch.

Run Your Favorite Apps With BlueStacks

If you’re just looking to run a couple apps and don’t need the emulator to look like Android, you should try BlueStacks. Over the years, it’s become the best Android app emulator around, and it’s packed with features that ensure your apps and games run smoothly. Since it uses virtualization to emulate Android, you’ll want to jump into your computer’s BIOS and enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V, if your computer supports it, for best performance.

Install BlueStacks as you would any other Windows or Mac app. BlueStacks 5, the latest version of the software, takes up 5GB of space on your computer (plus any apps you download). Open the app, and you’ll be greeted with a customized home screen and access to the Play Store. Download any apps you want, and they will appear on the BlueStacks home screen and your Windows desktop as their own shortcuts. Just double-click an icon to run the app in question.

BlueStacks is great for apps that don’t have corresponding desktop apps, but the emulator really shines when it comes to games. The emulator features built-in mappings for your mouse and keyboard, which you can customize to the touch controls you find on different Android games.

You can also adjust the resolution, DPI, FPS, and amount of CPU or RAM allocated to the emulator, ensuring you get the best balance between speed and graphical fidelity. (This is useful given that BlueStacks is fairly resource-intensive, as many virtual machines are.)

BlueStacks does, unfortunately, come with some ads and clutter, but it’s not as intrusive as it once was, and it’s a small price to pay for the functionality you get—especially considering the Android version options it offers.

Emulate Full Android Experience With Genymotion

If you’re looking to explore the Android operating system itself—rather than individual apps—Genymotion is a decent emulator. Its main product is designed for developers and costs money to use, but there is a free version of the software you can download for personal use; you just need to first create an account on the website.

Genymotion uses VirtualBox to emulate Android, so you’ll either need to have VirtualBox installed on your PC or download the version with VirtualBox bundled. Install it like you would any other program, ensuring you select the Personal Use version during the wizard. (And, like BlueStacks, you’ll want to enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V from your computer’s BIOS if you have it.)

When you start Genymotion, it’ll present you with a list of device templates you can install—this determines the screen resolution, Android version, and resources allotted to the emulator. Install the template you want and double-click it to enter Android. You’ll be able to navigate around the home screen, launch apps, and emulate certain events like GPS location.

Note that you’ll start with a very barebones version of Android that doesn’t even come with many of Google’s apps or modern features, though you can add the Play Store by clicking the Open Gapps icon in the sidebar to install it.

Also, no matter which template you choose, you won’t get any custom versions of Android—picking the Samsung Galaxy S10 template, for example, won’t get you Samsung’s One UI. It just determines the resolution and specs of the virtual machine. (Genymotion does support Android versions from 4.4 all the way up to 10.0, though.)

Genymotion works well for exploring Android’s settings and other built-in features, though I wouldn’t necessarily use it to run individual apps, as it doesn’t integrate as well with your PC as something like BlueStacks. If Genymotion doesn’t suit your needs, Google’s official Android software development kit also comes with an Android emulator, though setup is more complex.

Run Android Directly on Your PC With Android-x86

If you’re looking for something a bit more full-featured, the Android-x86 project gets you as close as you can get to true Android on your PC. Android-x86 is an open-source project that ports Android to the x86 platform, allowing you to run it on your computer instead of an ARM-based phone or tablet.

To run Android-x86, you have a couple of options. If you want to run Android on its own, as a desktop operating system for your PC, you can download it as an ISO disc image and burn it to a USB drive with a program like Rufus. Then, insert that USB drive into the PC in question, reboot, and enter the boot menu (usually by pressing a key like F12 during the boot process).

By booting from your Android-x86 USB drive, you’ll either be able to run Android in a live environment—without having any effect on your PC—or install it to your PC’s hard drive for permanent usage (and better performance).

Alternatively, if you want to run Android-x86 on top of your existing operating system, you can download the disc image and run it inside VirtualBox. This is, again, a bit more advanced if you aren’t familiar with VirtualBox, but our guide to running Windows on a Mac can get you acquainted with the process.

The official site has some tips for getting Android-x86 up and running in a virtual machine as well. It’s more work than using something like BlueStacks, but it’s also closer to pure Android, which is a nice perk.

Install Android Apps From the Amazon Appstore

With Windows 11, Microsoft adds built-in support for Android apps, but for now it’s limited to those enrolled in the Windows Insider beta program, who can currently play around with 50 apps from the Amazon Appstore. You’ll also need a PC that can run Windows 11.

Windows 11 taps into a feature called Windows Subsystem for Android, which makes Android apps compatible with Microsoft’s own OS. You’ll need to install the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store, which will prompt you to install Windows Subsystem. Here’s a full rundown.

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How to Run Android Apps on Windows 10 with Genymotion

Genymotion is a popular Android emulator based on VirtualBox. If you play heavy-duty 3D graphic games, such as PUBG Mobile, which require 2 GB or more of space, Genymotion lets you experience them on a larger laptop or desktop without performance issues. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how you can run Android apps on Windows 10 with Genymotion and play your favorite Android games on desktop.

Note: Genymotion is a proprietary software geared toward serious Android developers. However, the personal edition for gaming is absolutely free, and that should be enough to run all your favorite apps.

Also read: 6 of the Best Android Emulators to Run Android on Windows

1. Download and Install Genymotion

Download Genymotion Desktop for Windows with VirtualBox from its official link. The minimum system configurations are shown here. While it says 4 GB RAM, at least 8 GB RAM is preferable so that you don’t experience any performance lags. The more RAM you have, your experience will be better.

While installing, select your desired setup language to English or any other language. To create a folder path in Windows 10, at least 315 MB space is required. You have a choice to not create a Start menu folder so the app won’t interfere with the rest of your PC functions.

Wait a while for Genymotion to install on your Windows 10.

Once finished, it will automatically start installing VirtualBox on your Windows 10.

2. Install VirtualBox

Click “Next” to agree to the setup of Oracle VM VirtualBox Wizard.

VirtualBox will install a number of internal components. Click “Next” to proceed. You will get an option to not create VirtualBox’s Start menu entries, shortcuts, and quick launch bars.

You may get a warning of network interfaces disconnecting your network temporarily. You can safely ignore this message. Click “Yes” and proceed.

VirtualBox is now ready to install. Click “Install” to proceed.

It takes just a little while for the VirtualBox application to install on your system.

Click “Finish” once the installation is complete. This will automatically take you to the next step of Genymotion launch.

3. Launch and Activate Genymotion

Select the option to “Launch Genymotion” and click “Finish” to proceed.

The Genymotion app will launch on your Windows 10 screen.

In the next stage, you will need to create a Genymotion account to run the Android apps. This will automatically redirect you to a browser window with a Genymotion form. While filling out your information, make sure to select “Genymotion for personal use/Gaming.”

When the license window appears on the Genymotion dashboard, select “personal use” if you don’t have a paid license.

In the last stage, there will be an End User License Agreement which you have to agree to before the Genymotion dashboard will open on your screen.

4. Install Virtual Device in Genymotion

Working with Genymotion is rather easy. Click “+” to install virtual mobile devices to run your emulators. You can run more than one virtual device on your Windows 10 depending on how much RAM you can spare.

Select your target virtual device based on its configuration. Initially, go for the simplest “custom phone” as a trial; you can delete these virtual devices easily.

You can set up various parameters related to your virtual device including Android version 4.4 and higher and RAM (minimum 2 GB is recommended).

It takes just a little while for the virtual device to be installed on your Windows 10.

A virtual device is slowly being installed above. As shown below, it has been created successfully.

You can now boot this virtual device easily.

Again, it doesn’t take very long for the virtual device to start with Genymotion before it takes you to the apps running stage.

5. Launch Virtual Device and Run Android Apps on Windows 10

The virtual device emulator opens as a separate option on your Windows 10.

You can play with the apps in the Windows 10 homescreen just as you would on a regular phone or tablet.

Go to the browser window to download your game, such as PUBG Mobile. However, for serious emulator work, you need Play Store downloaded from GApps, which can be accessed from the right system tray.

You have to re-verify the Google Play account to download the apps. GApps is only 70 MB space, so you can download it for Play Store access.

Once the Play Store has been installed, it will ask you to restart the device. This will not restart your computer, just the virtual device. It will boot up automatically in a few minutes.

Now you can download any game or app you want directly from Play Store. If some apps such as PUBG Mobile are not being supported, then you need a higher virtual machine with a higher Android version and more RAM. Refer to the earlier section to create the appropriate machine for your needs.

The downloaded app has been installed on Genymotion emulator as shown here.

Genymotion is a very useful application to run your favorite Android games and other apps on your desktop and laptop computers. It has many advanced options, such as joystick, accelerometer, and remote controls to support advanced feature capabilities.

Other than Genymotion, you can also check out Android x86, Bliss OS and Phoenix OS to run Android apps in Windows.

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Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over eleven years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.

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