Genymotion: An Android Emulator for Linux

An Android emulator emulates an Android device, it mimics it down to a tee. By using an android emulator, one can test unknown and new applications. There are a number of android emulators available for Linux – android studio, anbox, android virutal device, shashlik, android_x86, and genymotion. However, in this tutorial, we will review how to install and run genymotion.

Genymotion: An Android Emulator for Linux

Follow these below steps to install Genymotion android emulator for Linux:

Step #1: Installing virtualbox

Genymotion utilizes virtualbox to run, and as such it must be installed.

sudo apt install virtualbox -y

Step #2: Installing genymotion

Genymotion has the following requirements:

• Ubuntu 20.04LTS (Focal Fossa) – 64bit only
•  Debian 9 (Stretch) or above – 64bit only
• Fedora 30 or above – 64bit only
• x86_64 CPU, with Intel VT-x/AMD-V/SVM
• Hardware accelerated GPU
•  400 MB disk space
• 4GB RAM
• VirtualBox from your distribution

Make sure that VT-x/AMD-V is enabled, else you will get an error! And I personally will be installing it on an Ubuntu 20.04.

Once you take the pre-requisites into consideration, do navigate to the genymotion website at https://www.genymotion.com/download/. Here, you can download the package. You’ll get a package called genymotion-3.2.1-linux_x64.bin. In my case, I’ve downloaded it to the Downloads folder. And as such, navigate to the Downloads folder and perform the following:

# Move to your Download folder.
$ cd ~/Download

# Give run permission.
$ chmod +x genymotion-3.X.X-linux_x64.bin

# Go into Sudo mode
sudo su

# Run the installer. {Genymotion_install_path} is the install target path.
$ ./genymotion-3.X.X-linux_x64.bin -d {Genymotion_install_path}

It will install it into /opt/genymobile/genymotion. However, you can use the Launcher to open Genymotion (Launcher > Genymotion).

Step #3: Sign up for a Genymotion account

When you launch Genymotion from the Launcher, you should be prompted with a sign up page. Click on create a new account, and follow the instructions to create an account. Once you’ve created an account, and verified your account, you’re ready to use Genymotion.

Step #4: Setting up a phone

Once you’ve registered and set genymotion up, you’ll get a window with a big plus button. Click on the big plus button (on the top right corner of genymotion). Then on the left, there will be a section called “form factor”. In the “form factor”, pick “phone”, and then pick the phone you want from the list of phones that it offers to you. And once you pick a phone, just follow the instructions once again until the phone has been set-up.

Step #5: Booting the phone

This is the easy part. Click on the three dots on the right hand side corner and then click on start.

There are tons of android emulators available, however, Genymotion is one of the best ones out there. It doesn’t have bugs like Android studio, has a front end unlike anbox, and is easy to set up.

Happy Coding!

FAQs

What is an android emulator?

An Android emulator emulates an Android device, it mimics it down to a tee. By using an android emulator, one can test unknown and new applications.

What are the different emulators available?

There are a number of android emulators available for Linux – android studio, anbox, android virutal device, shashlik, android_x86, and genymotion.

Genymotion is giving me errors, what could be the problem?

Make sure that VT-x/AMD-V is enabled, else you will get an error!