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Android Studio Emulator

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Learn how to set up the Android Emulator to test your app on a virtual Android device.

If you don't have an Android device available to test with, we recommend using the default emulator that comes with Android Studio. If you run into any problems setting it up, follow the steps in this guide.

Install Watchman and JDK

Prerequisites

Use a package manager such as Homebrew to install the following dependency.

Install dependencies

1

Install Watchman using a tool such as Homebrew:

Terminal
- brew install watchman

2

Install OpenJDK distribution called Azul Zulu using Homebrew. This distribution offers JDKs for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Run the following commands in a terminal:

Terminal
- brew install --cask zulu@17

After you install the JDK, add the JAVA_HOME environment variable in ~/.bash_profile (or ~/.zshrc if you use Zsh):

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/Contents/Home

Prerequisites

Use a package manager such as Chocolatey to install the following dependencies.

Install dependencies

Install Java SE Development Kit (JDK):

Terminal
- choco install -y microsoft-openjdk17

Install dependencies

1

Follow instructions from the Watchman documentation to compile and install it from the source.

2

Install Java SE Development Kit (JDK):

You can download and install OpenJDK@17 from AdoptOpenJDK or your system packager.

Set up Android Studio

1

Download and install Android Studio.

2

Open the Android Studio app, you will see the SDK Components setup screen. Click Next to continue to install the Android SDK and Android SDK Platform. Click Next again to verify the settings and install.

3

By default, Android Studio will install the latest version of the Android SDK. However, Android 15 (VanillaIceCream) SDK is required to compile a React Native app.

Open Android Studio, go to Settings > Languages & Frameworks > Android SDK. From the SDK Platforms tab, and under Android 15 (VanillaIceCream), select Android SDK Platform 35 and Sources for Android 35.

4

Then, click on the SDK Tools tab and make sure you have at least one version of the Android SDK Build-Tools and Android Emulator installed.

5

Copy or remember the path listed in the box that says Android SDK Location.

6

Add the following lines to your /.zprofile or ~/.zshrc (if you are using bash, then ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc) config file:

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

7

Reload the path environment variables in your current shell:

Terminal
# for zsh
- source $HOME/.zshrc

# for bash
- source $HOME/.bashrc

8

Finally, make sure that you can run adb from your terminal.

Troubleshooting: Android Studio not recognizing JDK

If Android Studio doesn't recognize your homebrew installed JDK, you can create a Gradle configuration file to explicitly set the Java path:

  1. Create a Gradle properties file in your home directory:

    Terminal
    - touch ~/.gradle/gradle.properties

  2. Add the following line to the gradle.properties file, replacing the path with your actual Java installation path:

    gradle.properties
    java.home=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/Contents/Home

  3. If you have an existing .gradle folder in your project directory, delete it and reopen your project in Android Studio:

    Terminal
    - rm -rf .gradle

This should resolve issues with Android Studio not detecting your JDK installation.

1

Download Android Studio.

2

Open Android Studio Setup. Under Select components to install, select Android Studio and Android Virtual Device. Then, click Next.

3

In the Android Studio Setup Wizard, under Install Type, select Standard and click Next.

4

The Android Studio Setup Wizard will ask you to verify the settings, such as the version of Android SDK, platform-tools, and so on. Click Next after you have verified.

5

In the next window, accept licenses for all available components.

6

By default, Android Studio will install the latest version of the Android SDK. However, Android 15 (VanillaIceCream) SDK is required to compile a React Native app.

Open Android Studio, go to Settings > Languages & Frameworks > Android SDK. From the SDK Platforms tab, and under Android 15 (VanillaIceCream), select Android SDK Platform 35 and Sources for Android 35.

7

Then, click on the SDK Tools tab and make sure you have at least one version of the Android SDK Build-Tools and Android Emulator installed.

8

After the tools installation is complete, configure the ANDROID_HOME environment variable. Go to Windows Control Panel > User Accounts > User Accounts (again) > Change my environment variables and click New to create a new ANDROID_HOME user variable. The value of this variable will point to the path to your Android SDK:

How to find installed SDK location?

By default, the Android SDK is installed at the following location:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk

To find the location of the SDK in Android Studio manually, go to Settings > Languages & Frameworks > Android SDK. See the location next to Android SDK Location.

9

To verify that the new environment variable is loaded, open PowerShell, and copy and paste the following command:

Terminal
- Get-ChildItem -Path Env:

The command will output all user environment variables. In this list, see if ANDROID_HOME has been added.

10

To add platform-tools to the Path, go to Windows Control Panel > User Accounts > User Accounts (again) > Change my environment variables > Path > Edit > New and add the path to the platform-tools to the list as shown below:

How to find installed platform-tools location

By default, the platform-tools are installed at the following location:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk\platform-tools

11

Finally, make sure that you can run adb from the PowerShell. For example, run the adb --version to see which version of the adb your system is running.

Set up an emulator

1

On the Android Studio main screen, click More Actions, then Virtual Device Manager in the dropdown.

2

Click the Create device button.

3

Under Add device, choose the type of hardware you'd like to emulate. We recommend testing against a variety of devices, but if you're unsure where to start, the newest device in the Pixel line could be a good choice.

4

Select an OS version to load on the emulator (probably one of the system images), and download the image (if required).

5

Change any other settings you'd like, and press Finish to create the emulator. You can now run this emulator anytime by pressing the Play button in the AVD Manager window.

Troubleshooting

Multiple adb versions

Having multiple adb versions on your system can result in the following error:

Terminal
- adb server version (xx) doesn't match this client (xx); killing...

This is because the adb version on your system is different from the adb version on the Android SDK platform-tools.

1

Open the terminal and check the adb version on the system:

Terminal
- adb version

2

And from the Android SDK platform-tool directory:

Terminal
- cd ~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools
- ./adb version

3

Copy adb from Android SDK directory to usr/bin directory:

Terminal
- sudo cp ~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb /usr/bin