Create and manage virtual devices

An Android Virtual Device (AVD) is a configuration that defines the characteristics of an Android phone, tablet, Wear OS, Android TV, or Automotive OS device that you want to simulate in the Android Emulator. The Device Manager is a tool you can launch from Android Studio that helps you create and manage AVDs.

To open the new Device Manager, do one of the following:

• From the Android Studio Welcome screen, select More Actions > Virtual Device Manager.

• After opening a project, select View > Tool Windows > Device Manager from the main menu bar, then click the +, and then click Create Virtual Device.

After creating your devices, you will be able to see a list of all the devices on the device manager panel.

If you want to use virtual devices to run your automated instrumented tests in a scalable and self-managed way, consider using Gradle Managed Devices.

About AVDs

An AVD contains a hardware profile, system image, storage area, skin, and other properties.

We recommend that you create an AVD for each system image that your app could potentially support based on the <uses-sdk> setting in your manifest.

Hardware profile

The hardware profile defines the characteristics of a device as shipped from the factory. The Device Manager comes pre-loaded with certain hardware profiles, such as Pixel devices, and you can define or customize the hardware profiles as needed.

A device definition labeled with the Google Play logo in the Play Store column includes both the Google Play Store app and access to Google Play services, including a Google Play tab in the Extended controls dialog that provides a convenient button for updating Google Play services on the device.

Devices with this logo and a device type of "Phone" are also CTS compliant and might use system images that include the Play Store app.

System images

A system image labeled with Google APIs includes access to Google Play services.

The Recommended tab lists recommended system images. The other tabs include a more complete list. The right pane describes the selected system image.

If you see a download icon next to a system image, that image isn't currently installed on your development machine. Click the icon to download the system image. You must be connected to the internet to download system images.

The API level of the target device is important, because your app doesn't run on a system image with an API level that's lower than the one required by your app, as specified in the minSdk attribute in the app manifest file. For more information about the relationship between system API level and minSdk, see Version your app.

If your app declares a <uses-library> element in the manifest file, the app requires a system image that includes that external library. To run your app on an emulator, create an AVD that includes the required library. To do so, you might need to use an add-on component for the AVD platform; for example, the Google APIs add-on contains the Google Maps library.

To ensure app security and a consistent experience with physical devices, system images with the Google Play Store included are signed with a release key, which means that you can't get elevated privileges (root) with these images.

If you require elevated privileges (root) to aid with app troubleshooting, you can use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) system images that don't include Google apps or services. Then you can use the adb root and adb unroot commands to switch between normal and elevated privileges:

  % adb shell
  emu64a:/ $
  emu64a:/ $ exit
  % adb root
  restarting adbd as root
  % adb shell
  emu64a:/ #
  emu64a:/ # exit
  % adb unroot
  restarting adbd as non root
  % adb shell
  emu64a:/ $
  emu64a:/ $ exit
  %
  

Storage area

The AVD has a dedicated storage area on your development machine. It stores the device user data, such as installed apps and settings, as well as an emulated SD card. If needed, you can use the Device Manager to wipe user data so the device has the same data as if it were new.

Skin

An emulator skin specifies the appearance of a device. The Device Manager provides some predefined skins. You can also define your own or use skins provided by third parties.

AVD and app features

Make sure your AVD definition includes the device features your app depends on. See the sections about hardware profile properties and AVD properties for lists of features you can define in your AVDs.

Create an AVD

To create a new AVD:

1. Open the Device Manager.
2. Click Create Device.

   The Select Hardware window appears.

   

   Notice that only some hardware profiles include Play Store. These profiles are fully CTS compliant and might use system images that include the Play Store app.

3. Select a hardware profile, then click Next.

   If you don't see the hardware profile you want, you can create or import a hardware profile, as described in other sections on this page.

   The System Image window appears.

   
4. Select the system image for a particular API level, and then click Next.

The Verify Configuration window appears.


5. Change the AVD properties as needed, and then click Finish.

   Click Show Advanced Settings to show more settings, such as the skin.

The new AVD appears in the Virtual tab of the Device Manager and the target device menu.

To create an AVD starting with a copy:

1. From the Virtual tab of the Device Manager, click Menu and select Duplicate.

   The Verify Configuration window appears.

2. Click Previous if you need to make changes on the System Image or Select Hardware windows.
3. Make any changes you need, and then click Finish.

   The AVD appears in the Virtual tab of the Device Manager.

Create a hardware profile

The Device Manager provides predefined hardware profiles for common devices so you can easily add them to your AVD definitions. If you need to define a different device, you can create a new hardware profile.

You can define a new hardware profile from the beginning or copy a hardware profile as a starting point. The preloaded hardware profiles aren't editable.

To create a new hardware profile from the beginning:

1. In the Select Hardware window, click New Hardware Profile.

2. In the Configure Hardware Profile window, change the hardware profile properties as needed.

   
3. Click Finish.

   Your new hardware profile appears in the Select Hardware window. You can create an AVD that uses the hardware profile by clicking Next or click Cancel to return to the Virtual tab or target device menu.

To create a hardware profile using a copy as a starting point:

1. In the Select Hardware window, select a hardware profile and click Clone Device or right-click a hardware profile and select Clone.

2. In the Configure Hardware Profile window, change the hardware profile properties as needed.
3. Click Finish.

Your new hardware profile appears in the Select Hardware window. You can create an AVD that uses the hardware profile by clicking Next or click Cancel to return to the Virtual tab or target device menu.

Edit existing AVDs

You can perform the following operations on an AVD from the Device Manager's Virtual tab:

• To edit an AVD, click Edit this AVD and make your changes.
• To delete an AVD, click Menu and select Delete.
• To show the associated AVD INI and IMG files on disk, click Menu and select Show on Disk.
• To view AVD configuration details that you can include in bug reports to the Android Studio team, click Menu and select View Details.

Edit existing hardware profiles

You can't edit or delete the preloaded hardware profiles, but you can perform the following operations on other hardware profiles from the Select Hardware window:

• To edit a hardware profile, select it and click Edit Device. You can also right-click a hardware profile and select Edit. Next, make your changes.
• To delete a hardware profile, right-click it and select Delete.

Run and stop an emulator and clear data

From the Virtual tab, you can perform the following operations on an emulator:

• To run an emulator that uses an AVD, click Launch .
• To stop a running emulator, click Menu and select Stop.
• To clear the data for an emulator, click Menu and select Wipe Data.

Import and export hardware profiles

From the Select Hardware window, you can import and export hardware profiles as follows:

• To import a hardware profile, click Import Hardware Profiles and select the XML file on your computer containing the definition.
• To export a hardware profile, right-click it and select Export. Specify the location where you want to store the XML file containing the definition.

AVD properties

The AVD configuration specifies the interaction between the development computer and the emulator as well as properties you want to override in the hardware profile. You can specify the following properties for AVD configurations in the Verify Configuration window. The properties labeled (Advanced) are only displayed if you click Show Advanced Settings.

AVD configuration properties override hardware profile properties, and emulator properties that you set while the emulator is running override them both.

Table 1. AVD configuration properties

Hardware profile properties

You can specify the following properties for hardware profiles in the Configure Hardware Profile window. AVD configuration properties override hardware profile properties, and emulator properties that you set while the emulator is running override them both.

The predefined hardware profiles included with the Device Manager aren't editable. However, you can copy the profiles and edit the copies.

Some properties are disabled for some device types. For example, the "Round" property is only available on Wear OS devices.

Table 2. Hardware profile configuration properties

Create an emulator skin

An Android emulator skin is a collection of files that define the visual and control elements of an emulator display. If the skin definitions available in the AVD settings don't meet your requirements, you can create your own custom skin definition and then apply it to your AVD.

Each emulator skin contains:

• A hardware.ini file
• Layout files for supported orientations and physical configurations
• Image files for display elements, such as background, keys, and buttons

To create and use a custom skin:

1. Create a directory where you can save your skin configuration files.
2. Define the visual appearance of the skin in a text file named layout. This file defines many characteristics of the skin, such as the size and image assets for specific buttons. For example:

   parts {
       device {
           display {
               width   320
               height  480
               x       0
               y       0
           }
       }
   
       portrait {
           background {
               image background_port.png
           }
   
           buttons {
               power {
                   image  button_vertical.png
                   x 1229
                   y 616
               }
           }
       }
       ...
   }
   

3. Add bitmap files of the device images to the same directory.
4. Specify additional hardware-specific device configurations in an INI file for the device settings, such as hw.keyboard and hw.lcd.density.
5. Archive the files in the skin folder and select the archive file as a custom skin.

For more detailed information about creating emulator skins, see the Android Emulator Skin File Specification in the tools source code.