Android is the most popular operating system in the world today on smartphones, installed on every mobile phone that is not iPhone and that is not Windows Phone. Android is an open source Google system based on Linux (Android is not a Linux distribution), not designed for PCs, not designed for devices that do not have a touchscreen, but, due to its nature as a free system, however used for a multitude of experiments, such as HDMI pen drives for TVs and Android X86 versions for mini netbook laptops .
Thanks to its versatility, virtualization programs have also been created to bring Android to normal computers, or better, the apps of the Android store.
In this article we collect all the ways to install Android or Android apps on a Windows PC, in an easy and free way, as if it were a normal program to be opened inside Windows.
- Phoenix OS to have Android on the computer, an updated operating system that can be installed on any computer as described in the dedicated guide.
- Prime OS to use Android on PC, an updated operating system that can be used as a live operating system on a USB stick on any computer as described in the dedicated guide.
- Bluestacks is the best program to install Android apps on PC, which works on Windows and Mac, already explained in another article. Bluestacks is a virtualization program that allows you to open the Android home screen on a window and to be able to run various applications. You can then use Whatsapp on PC, Skype as an app and above all you can have all your favorite games on the PC monitor, to play comfortably without wasting battery on the phone.
- Nox App Player emulator optimized for Android games on PC, the best if the goal is to play and configure the various controls by simulating the touch on the screen via the computer keyboard.
- Install Android apps on Chrome . We have already talked about this too. It is Google itself that promotes this procedure to have Android apps on every PC, including its Chromebook computers. In this case it is just a matter of installing an extension and then loading the chosen application in the form of an APK file. Another article explains how to download APK files for Android apps.
- Visual Studio emulator for Android is Microsoft's Android emulator for Windows 8 and Windows 10 PCs, which allows you to test an Android smartphone or tablet on your PC and also to install applications. Google Play Store is not supported, but apps can be installed with apk files.
- An excellent Android emulator latest version that simulates the screen of a tablet or smartphone on your computer is Genymotion a program to virtualize Android on Windows, Mac and Linux, which can also be used in a free version.
- Andyroid is an emulation program for Windows very similar to Bluestacks, but completely free, which allows you to use apps on PC as if they were normal programs. On the site you can download compatible applications and games directly, without having to search for them yourself. With this program, the apps also manage to send desktop notifihce thus becoming real programs integrated in Windows, to use apps such as Whatsapp or Skype or other Messenger that would be usable only by mobile phone.
- Memu Play is an excellent easy-to-install choice that works as an Android emulator on Windows. The best compelling part of this program is the on-screen keyboard and the support for APK files that allows you to have an Android app executor directly on your PC. Also you can play Android games in full screen resolution.
- Windroy can emulate Android on Windows . Pressing the home button opens the list of all installed applications and widgets. Pre-installed applications include browser, calculator, calendar, gallery, settings. Even if the Google applications are not there and therefore the Google Play store is missing, you can still install new apps by downloading the apk files and moving them to the installation folder of WindowsAndroid.
- The official Google emulator
I mention it just for the record because, unless you are an application developer, venturing into installing the Android development environment on PC is not worth it. Google provides an Android emulator designed to allow developers to test their applications on Android before running them on mobile phones but can also be used to play them. To use it you need to download the Google Android SDK, for Windows, Linux or Mac and, from here, choose the package of the latest Android version. From this it is possible to open the pre-installed applications from the start menu, but there is no Android Market Google Play to install other apps that will be searched online in the apk file repositories.
