How to run Android APK in Mac Silicon ?

To run an Android APK on a Mac with Apple Silicon, you will need to use an Android emulator that supports the ARM architecture. Currently, the most popular Android emulator for macOS, Android Studio with its Android Emulator, does not support Apple Silicon natively. However, there are alternative emulators that you can try.

One such emulator is the open-source project “M1 ARM Android Emulator” which is specifically built for Apple Silicon Macs. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Install Homebrew (if not already installed) by following the instructions on the Homebrew website: https://brew.sh
2. Install the required dependencies using Homebrew by running the following commands in the terminal:

brew install sdl2
brew install qemu

Clone the M1 ARM Android Emulator repository:

git clone https://github.com/741g/android-emulator-m1-preview.git

Navigate to the cloned repository:

cd android-emulator-m1-preview

Run the script to download the Android system images:

./download_system_images.sh

Run the script to start the emulator:

./start_emulator.sh

Once the emulator is running, you can install and run APK files on it. To install an APK, open a new terminal window and run the following command, replacing /path/to/your/app.apk with the actual path to your APK file:

adb install /path/to/your/app.apk

The app should now be installed on the emulator, and you can launch it from the app drawer within the emulator.

Keep in mind that the M1 ARM Android Emulator is an unofficial project and might have limitations or bugs. The official Android Emulator might eventually add native support for Apple Silicon, providing a more robust solution. Keep an eye on the Android Studio release notes for updates on Apple Silicon support.