Fast Android Emulator

It is nice to have a fast Android emulator for various reasons (ex. test automation) but it is notoriously known as slow to the extent that engineers abandon it. On the other hand, the iOS simulator is super fast. In this short article I am going to explain how to make it as good as the iOS simulator. if you are curious why the emulator is slower than the simulator check out this.

1. Install Google Android SDK and Studio
2. Go to $ANDROID_HOME for example /Users/name/Library/Android/sdk
3. Go to tools
4. Enter android. This will open Android SDK manager
5. Select the Android API number you want and check Intel x86 Atom System Image. If your laptop is 64 bits then select the 64 version.
6. Type android avd to invoke Android device manager
7. Create the device you want. Make sure to use GPU for acceleration.
8. This should make the emulator fast enough to not only to update the GUI but also to play a video.

If for any reason the emulator fails to start refer to the following article. Here is what you need to do.

1. Uninstall old HAXM: sudo
   
   Python

   /System/Library/Extensions/intelhaxm.kext/Contents/Resources/uninstall.sh

   1	/System/Library/Extensions/intelhaxm.kext/Contents/Resources/uninstall.sh

2. Disable kext signing: apparently HAXM 1.1.0 is not signed appropriately
   
   Python

   sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

   1	sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

3. Reboot
4. Install the new HAXM 1.1.0 as usual (notice that if you don’t disable kext signing, haxm will refuse to install with the error that VT/NX is disabled)
5. Add $ANDROID_HOME/tools/lib to your $LD_LIBRARY_PATH