Android Studio and Emulator

This tutorial guides you through installing Android Studio and setting up the Android emulator for testing .NET MAUI applications. Android Studio provides a graphical interface for managing the Android SDK, emulator, and Android Virtual Devices (AVDs).

Alternative Approach

If you prefer a command-line approach without installing Android Studio, see the Development Environment Setup tutorial which covers setting up the Android SDK tools manually within a containerised development environment.

1. Download and Install Android Studio

Android Studio is the official IDE for Android development and includes all the tools needed to run the Android emulator.

Windows Mac Linux

  1. Download Android Studio from the official website
  2. Run the downloaded .exe installer
  3. Follow the installation wizard, accepting the default options
  4. Choose “Standard” installation type when prompted

Disk Space

Android Studio requires approximately 4GB of disk space for the IDE, plus additional space for the Android SDK and system images (typically 10-15GB total for a complete setup).

  1. Download Android Studio from the official website

Mac Chip Type

Make sure you download the correct version for your Mac:

  • Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4 chips): Download the “Mac with Apple chip” version
  • Intel: Download the “Mac with Intel chip” version

You can check your chip type by clicking the Apple menu and selecting “About This Mac”.

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag Android Studio to the Applications folder
  3. Launch Android Studio from the Applications folder
  4. If prompted about the app being downloaded from the internet, click “Open”
  1. Download Android Studio from the official website
  2. Extract the downloaded archive:
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sudo tar -xzf android-studio-*.tar.gz -C /opt/
  1. Run Android Studio:
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/opt/android-studio/bin/studio.sh

Desktop Entry

To add Android Studio to your application menu, use Tools > Create Desktop Entry from within Android Studio after it’s running.

Fig. 1. Android Studio download page
Fig. 1. Android Studio download page

2. First Launch Configuration

When you first launch Android Studio, a setup wizard guides you through the initial configuration.

  1. On the welcome screen, click Next to begin setup
  2. Select Standard installation type (recommended)
  3. Choose your preferred UI theme (Darcula or Light)
  4. Review the SDK components to be installed:
    • Android SDK
    • Android SDK Platform
    • Android Virtual Device (AVD)
  5. Accept the license agreements
  6. Click Finish to download and install the components
Fig. 2. Android Studio setup wizard
Fig. 2. Android Studio setup wizard

Warning

The initial download may take considerable time depending on your internet connection. The SDK components and system images are several gigabytes in size.

3. Configure SDK Components

After the initial setup, verify that all required SDK components are installed.

  1. Open Android Studio
  2. From the welcome screen, click More Actions (or use Tools menu if a project is open)
  3. Select SDK Manager

SDK Platforms Tab

Ensure you have at least one Android platform installed. For MAUI development, Android 14 (API 34) or higher is recommended.

Fig. 3. SDK Manager showing SDK Platforms
Fig. 3. SDK Manager showing SDK Platforms

SDK Tools Tab

Click the SDK Tools tab and verify these components are installed:

Component Purpose
Android SDK Build-Tools Required for building Android apps
Android Emulator The emulator itself
Android SDK Platform-Tools ADB and other command-line utilities

Check any missing components and click Apply to install them.

SDK Location

Note the SDK location displayed at the top of the SDK Manager. You may need this path later for environment variables or IDE configuration.

Windows Mac Linux

Default SDK location:

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C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk

Default SDK location:

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/Users/USERNAME/Library/Android/sdk

Default SDK location:

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/home/USERNAME/Android/Sdk

4. Create an Android Virtual Device (Pixel 9 Pro)

An Android Virtual Device (AVD) is an emulated Android phone that runs on your computer.

  1. From the Android Studio welcome screen, click More Actions
  2. Select Virtual Device Manager (or Device Manager in newer versions)
  3. Click Create Virtual Device
Fig. 4. AVD Manager interface
Fig. 4. AVD Manager interface

Select Hardware

  1. In the Category list, select Phone
  2. From the device list, select Pixel 9 Pro
  3. Click Next
Fig. 5. Hardware selection - Pixel 9 Pro
Fig. 5. Hardware selection - Pixel 9 Pro

Device Choice

The Pixel 9 Pro is a good choice for development as it represents a modern flagship device with a large screen. You can create additional AVDs with different screen sizes later to test your app’s responsiveness.

Select System Image

Choose a system image that matches your computer’s architecture:

Windows / Intel Mac Apple Silicon Mac

  1. Select the x86_64 tab (this should be the default)
  2. Choose a system image with API 34 or higher
  3. Look for images labelled with Google APIs for broader app compatibility
  4. If the image shows a download icon, click it to download the image first
  5. Click Next
  1. Select the arm64-v8a tab
  2. Choose a system image with API 34 or higher
  3. Look for images labelled with Google APIs for broader app compatibility
  4. If the image shows a download icon, click it to download the image first
  5. Click Next

Apple Silicon Performance

On Apple Silicon Macs, ARM-based system images run natively without emulation, providing significantly better performance than x86 images running through translation.

Fig. 6. System image selection
Fig. 6. System image selection

Configure AVD Settings

  1. Give your AVD a name (e.g., “Pixel_9_Pro_API_34”)
  2. Review the configuration settings:
    • Startup orientation: Portrait (default)
    • Emulated Performance: Hardware - GLES 2.0 (recommended)
  3. Click Show Advanced Settings to access additional options if needed
  4. Click Finish to create the AVD
Fig. 7. AVD configuration screen
Fig. 7. AVD configuration screen

Your new AVD should now appear in the Device Manager list.

5. Launch and Test the Emulator

  1. In the Device Manager, find your newly created AVD
  2. Click the Play button (triangle icon) to start the emulator
Fig. 8. Emulator running with Pixel 9 Pro
Fig. 8. Emulator running with Pixel 9 Pro

First Boot

The first time you start a new AVD, it may take a few minutes to boot as Android performs initial setup. Subsequent starts will be faster, especially if you enable snapshot saving.

Basic Emulator Controls

Control Description
Power button (side) Turn screen on/off
Volume buttons (side) Adjust volume
Extended controls (…) Access additional features like GPS, battery, sensors
Rotate Change orientation between portrait and landscape
Screenshot Capture the current screen
Back Android back navigation
Home Return to home screen
Overview Show recent apps

6. Environment Variables (Optional)

Setting environment variables allows you to use Android SDK tools from the command line, which is useful for advanced workflows and connecting to a development container.

Windows Mac Linux

Set ANDROID_HOME

  1. Open the Start menu and search for “Environment Variables”
  2. Click “Edit the system environment variables”
  3. Click the “Environment Variables” button
  4. Under “User variables”, click “New”
  5. Set:
    • Variable name: ANDROID_HOME
    • Variable value: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk
  6. Click OK

Add to PATH

  1. In the same Environment Variables window, find “Path” under “User variables”
  2. Click “Edit”
  3. Click “New” and add: %ANDROID_HOME%\platform-tools
  4. Click “New” again and add: %ANDROID_HOME%\emulator
  5. Click OK to save

Close and reopen any command prompt windows for the changes to take effect.

Add the following lines to your ~/.zshrc file (or ~/.bash_profile if using Bash):

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export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator

Apply the changes:

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source ~/.zshrc

Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc file:

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export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator

Apply the changes:

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source ~/.bashrc

Verify the Setup

Open a new terminal and run:

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adb --version

You should see output showing the ADB version number.

7. Connecting to a Development Container

If you’re using the containerised development environment from the Development Environment Setup tutorial, you’ll need to connect the container to the emulator running on your host machine.

Start ADB Server on Host

On your host machine (not in the container), start the ADB server in network mode:

Windows Mac/Linux

Open a Command Prompt or PowerShell window and run:

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adb kill-server
adb -a -P 5037 nodaemon server start

Leave this window open while developing.

Open a terminal and run:

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adb kill-server
adb -a -P 5037 nodaemon server start

Leave this terminal open while developing.

Configure ADB in Container

Inside your development container, set the ADB server address:

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export ADB_SERVER_SOCKET=tcp:host.docker.internal:5037

Then verify the connection:

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adb devices

You should see your emulator listed:

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List of devices attached
emulator-5554	device

For detailed instructions on building and deploying MAUI apps to the emulator from a container, see the Getting started with Visual Studio Code tutorial.

8. Troubleshooting

Problem Possible Cause Solution
Emulator won’t start Hardware acceleration disabled Enable VT-x/AMD-V in BIOS (Windows/Linux) or ensure Hypervisor is enabled (Mac)
Emulator runs very slowly No hardware acceleration Install HAXM (Intel) or enable Hyper-V (Windows). On Apple Silicon, use arm64 images
“HAXM is not installed” Missing Intel HAXM Install HAXM from SDK Manager (SDK Tools tab) or use Hyper-V instead
AVD not visible in VSCode AVD Manager extension not configured Configure paths in VSCode AVD Manager settings
ADB cannot connect ADB server not running Start ADB server with adb start-server
Emulator freezes on boot Insufficient RAM allocated Edit AVD settings and reduce RAM or enable hardware acceleration
“System UI isn’t responding” Emulator overloaded Wipe data and cold boot the AVD, or increase allocated resources
Black screen after boot Graphics driver issue Change emulator graphics setting to “Software” in AVD configuration

Cold Boot

If the emulator behaves unexpectedly, try a cold boot: In Device Manager, click the dropdown arrow next to the Play button and select “Cold Boot Now”. This restarts the emulator without using saved state.

Next Steps

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