How to run Android apps on Ubuntu
Overview
In this article we will cover how to run Android apps on Ubuntu.
There are multiple ways to achieve this but this time we will focus using an emulator software.
Emulator software we’re going to use is - Genymotion
Needed requirements:
- A PC capable of virtualization and virtualization enabled in the BIOS of the PC.
- Virtualbox software
- Genymotion app - Download here
- A Genymotion account
- Play store app - Download here
Virtualbox installation and Genymotion download
First we’re going to start by installing Virtualbox - so, open the terminal and type in the command:
sudo apt install virtualbox
After you have installed Virtualbox, now you need to go to Genymotion site, create an account and download the software.
Usually software is not free but there is a free version intended for personal use, so we’re going to download that version.
Follow the provided download link, the link will send you to the download page that looks like this:
The download button will direct you to this page:
Genymotion installation
After the download, next step is to use the terminal again and we need to make the Genymotion file an executable and start the installation.
Open the terminal again, go to the download location of your Genymotion file(Download folder in this case) and use the following commands:
cd Downloads
chmod +x gemotion-2.12.2-linux_x64.bin
./genymotion
Below are provided screenshots of the commands:
Bellow you’ll see result of a successful installation
Genymotion emulator setup and configuration
Once the installation is finished, go to the Genymotion folder and start the Genymotion app
Once you start the app it will prompt you to authenticate with an account but you’ll choose the third option in the prompt - For personal use.
Next step is to add a virtual device. Click on the add button, login with your account. App will prompt you a list selection menu with various android devices to choose from.
Select the device of your choice and click Next.
This screen will show device information and give you an option to name the device if you want. Click Next.
It will take couple of minutes for Genymotion to configure the device. Once it’s done, click finish and start the device to test it. You need to have a screen like this opened.
GAPS - downloading and flashing Google play store
What’s left is to download and install Google play store app. Genymotion devices comes without Play store. That’s why in this article, download link to the play store is included and
we’ll show you how to install play store. The process is quite simple, use the provided link in this article and open the open gapps page.
Select the ARM platform, select the android version your device has and select stock version of the play store and download the file.
As soon as the download is finished, open the folder where the file is located and leave the folder open. Next, start your virtual android device.
Drag and drop the downloaded play store file on your virtual android device. The process will run and finish automatically. The device will prompt you do you want to flash the fille and click OK when it does.
Android will flash the play store file and once it’s done you need to restart the virtual android device. After that, you’ll be able to run play store, log in or create an account and download and run the apps on your virtual device.
Summary
We covered the procedure how to run android apps on Ubuntu. In this example, at the time of writing, we used Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Still to this day, this method is still the same and it still works, even on newer versions of Ubuntu.
I hope you found the post helpful and the process easy to follow. Thank you for your time.
