Emulator Android Mac M1
This is the second post that I dedicate to talk about configurations using the new M1 Apple processor. As I said in the previous post, these configurations are workarounds until stable versions are released, however, for me, they have been useful and I guess that someone in the same situation as me can benefit from that.
So many people asking about running the android app on mac m1 system and about its performance on mac m1. So In this post I am sharing all steps to run the react-native android app on mac m1. Android Emulator for M1 is not available on stable releases yet and I am also waiting for Android Studio to fully support M1 macs so that I can use it for. Just a couple of days ago the first PREVIEW version of the Android Emulator for Apple M1 (Apple Silicon) Chips were released. I downloaded the latest version.
Using Android studio in the new Macbook Air
When you install Android Studio you will get the following warning:
Android emulator on Mac M1 You’re now watching this thread and will receive emails when there’s activity. Click again to stop watching or visit your profile/homepage to manage your watched threads. The emulator can be used to run ARM64-based Android apps on a Mac. The native hardware virtualization of the M1 SoCs is used via Qemu. This is the same tool that is also used to virtualize Windows on the M1. ARM32 applications do not work - the list of restrictions is quite long overall. Google emphasizes that the emulator is a first preview. The emulation software enables ARM64-based Android apps to run on a Mac. Similar to the virtualization of Microsoft’s Windows operating system on Apple’s M1 devices, the native hardware virtualization of the M1 chips via Qemu is also used here. According to Google, however, the presentation is only a first preview version of the emulator.
Unable to install Intel® HAXM
Your CPU does not support VT-x.
Unfortunately, your computer does not support hardware-accelerated virtualization.
Here are some of your options:
1 - Use a physical device for testing
2 - Develop on a Windows/OSX computer with an Intel processor that supports VT-x and NX
3 - Develop on a Linux computer that supports VT-x or SVM
4 - Use an Android Virtual Device based on an ARM system image
(This is 10x slower than hardware-accelerated virtualization)
Creating Android virtual device
Android Emulator Mac M1 Reddit
Android virtual device Pixel_3a_API_30_x86 was successfully created
And also in the Android virtual device (AVD) screen you will read the following warning:
If you want to learn more regarding virtualization in processors you can read the following Wikipedia article, the thing is that our M1 processor doesn’t support VT-x, however, we have options to run an Android Virtual Device.
As the previous message was telling us, we have 4 options. The easiest way to proceed is to use a physical device, but what if you haven’t one available at the moment you are developing?
From now on, we will go with the option of using an Android virtual device based on an ARM system image as options 2 and 3 are not possible to execute.
Using the virtual emulator
The only thing that you have to do is to download the last available emulator for Apple silicon processors from Github https://github.com/741g/android-emulator-m1-preview/releases/tag/0.2
Once you have downloaded you have to right-click to the .dmg file and click open to skip the developer verification.
After installing the virtual emulator, we have to open it from the Applications menu.
After opening it you will see Virtual emulator in Android Studio available to deploy your Android application. Make sure to have Project tools available in Android Studio (View -> Tool Windows -> Project)
After pressing the launch button you will get your Android application running in your ARM virtual emulator :-)
Android Emulator On Mac M1
Conclusion
Android Emulator Mac M1 Preview
In this post, we have seen that is possible to install Android Studio in Macbook Air M1 and use a virtual device even that your M1 doesn’t support VT-x. You can learn more about this emulator in the following references: