Is Google Play Store supported in avd emulators?

Question

After googling quite a bit I am unable to find the answer to this question. Is google play store officially support in avd emulators.

I know it was once stopped , then I hear that it was brought back after specific version of android. I am using avd android version 4.4.3 (api 19) google app . I dont see a google play store app there. Am I suppose to expect it? Or is there an official apk for google play store that can be installed on the avd officially?

Solution 1

Starting from Android Studio 2.3.2 now you can create an AVD that has Play Store pre-installed on it. Currently, it is supported on the AVD's running

• A device definition of Nexus 5 or 5X phone, or any Android Wear
• A system image since Android 7.0 (API 24)

Official Source

For other emulators, you can try the solution mentioned in this answer.

Solution 2

The Google Play Store is now officially preinstalled the Android Emulator. Make sure you are running the latest version of Android Studio 2.4. In the Android Studio AVD Manager choose a virtual device configuration that has the Google Play store icon next to it, and then select one of the system images that have the label "Google Play". See this release note: https://androidstudio.googleblog.com/2017/04/android-studio-24-preview-4-is-now.html

Solution 3

Easiest way: You should create a new emulator, and before opening it for the first time, follow these easy steps:

1. Locate the directory where the emulator has been created. For example, in Windows go to: C:\Users[user].android\avd[your virtual device folder]

2. Open file config.ini with a text editor like Notepad.

3. Locate PlayStore.enabled key and change its value to true:

   PlayStore.enabled = true

4. Locate image.sysdir.1 entry and change: google_apis => google_apis_playstore. Example:

   image.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis\x86\

   to

   image.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis_playstore\x86\

Solution 4

Yes, you can enable/use Play Store on Android Emulator(AVD): Before that you have to set up some prerequisites:

1. Start Android SDK Manager and select Google Play Intel x86 Atom System Image (Recomended: because it will work comparatively faster) of your required android version (For Example: Android 7.1.1 or API 25)

[Note: Please keep all other thing as it is, if you are going to install it for first time] Or Install as the image below:

2. After download is complete Goto Tools->Manage AVDs...->Create from your Android SDK Manager

3. 

Check you have provided following option correctly. Not sure about internal and SD card storage. You can choose different. And Target must be your downloaded android version

4. Also check Google Play Intel Atom (x86) in CPU/ABI is provided

5. Click OK

6. Then Start your Android Emulator. There you will see the Android Play Store. See ---

Solution 5

When creating AVD,

1. Pick a device with google play icon.

2. Pick the google play version of the image, of your desired API level.

Now, after creating the AVD, you should see the google play icon .

View more solutions

Comments

[OneCricketeer]

You can always download the APK and install via ADB

[gavsiu]

Did you get "Device incompatible" warnings on the apps in the Play Store? About 90% of them are incompatible on mine. I can't really install anything I need (Firefox/Opera)

[Dave Hubbard]

I appears to be available in 2.3.3 also. But only for two phone images, no tablets yet. I suppose you can choose the phone and then tweak it into a tablet format. My 2.3.3 screen is identical to the one shown here.

[user2576168]

For me avd manager required to pick nexus device to get play store. For instance, Pixel devices did not have option to choose google play system image, but only google apis.

[shane]

When I tried this, trying to open the Play Store just got stuck on "Checking Info" screen. Haven't found a workaround yet.

[Mike dg]

The play store is available on a subset of images

[WSS]

After pushing Phonesky.apk and restarting emulator my emulator is not powering on.

[Phong Nguyen]

on MacOS, Android studio 3.1, Emulator Nexus 5X, Android 7.0 or 8.0 doesn't have Play Store :(

[randomor]

It didn't work with an existing avd, but it does with a new one as of 6/2018: developer.android.com/studio/releases/…

[Can Poyrazoğlu]

I can neither find Google Play Intel x86 Atom System Image in SDK Manager nor Google Play Intel Atom (x86) in CPU/ABI section when creating emulator.

[TRiNE]

This is worked for Nexus_5_API_28. / was the mount point for system. Therefore used mount -o rw,remount /dev/root /

[Nimral]

Deb's answer helped me most. Without first loading a "Google Play" enabled system image no Google Play enabled AVD could be created. I also noticed that only for a few devices a Googla Play enabled image is available.

[jtth]

@gavsiu any resolution to this? Can't seem to download an app we are testing that has been confirmed available on a minimum of Android 4.4 (API 19) and targets the latest Android 9.0 (API 28). How to know if app and why it is "incompatible" if our emulated device supports Google Play store and is running an Android 8.0?

[Palejandro]

@CanPoyrazoğlu in the right bottom corner there is a switch "Show Package Details" click on it, and you will see it

[YoungDinosaur]

I found the grep for playstore to be critical. I had version 26 revision 14 installed but that did not contain playstore. I need to install version 26 revision 7 and I only found that by using these instructions.

[unforgettableidSupportsMonica]

@jtth: Does this article help you? If not, please post a new question, and please provide me with a link to the question.

[wbk727]

Not for tablets though. Shame

[ccpizza]

@MacaronLover: then, for example, you could use genymotion which is free for personal use and where you can install gapps by clicking in the top right corner icon in the emulator window. see stackoverflow.com/questions/20121883/…

[jasonleonhard]

@Sergey this answer is no longer correct, you can install google play now in some emulators.

[jasonleonhard]

Thanks for the visual @ccpizza

[doctorram]

This is not the correct answer to the question. Look below for Jamal Eason's answer.

[anandhu]

thanks this worked, But i noticed that my previous emulator also had the same configurations (Google Play Intel x86 Atom System Image & Android 7.1.1 ). But it didn't have playstore

[Viktor Brešan]

Currently the best way to have a tablet emulator with Google Play.

[saltandpepper]

After changing these settings, am I supposed to launch the emulator from the AVD manager? I'm getting an error "The emulator process for AVD ... was killled"

[Sharif Yazdian]

As I mentioned; you have to create a "New" emulator, don't open it, and do the changes, then you can open it.

[Learn2Code]

Where can I find the file to change ? I have a mac.

[Chris]

@Learn2Code open AVD manager, right click device, then select "Show on Disk"

[Gilian]

You can use an "already used" avd, just click in "wipe data"

[Vikas Pandey]

thank you @SharifYazdian this worked for me. I was working on a crash that had happened on a Tab and on my emulator the tab does not have google play, I was unable to debug because location services did not work. With this process the emulator now has google play and can access google play services.