AnVirt Emu vs MEmu Play

AnVirt Emu is a paid macOS desktop emulator for running an Android environment without installing Android Studio or the Android SDK. AnVirt says its runtime uses modified versions of Android Emulator and QEMU. The included Android system images depend on the Mac processor: Apple Silicon supports apps built for arm64-v8a, while Intel Macs support x86_64 applications. The original system includes neither a store app nor a browser, so apps cannot be downloaded from inside the environment. Users can obtain APK or XAPK packages themselves instead. When creating a virtual machine, memory size and data partition size are configurable. The app costs $9.99, paid once and requires macOS 11.0 or later. It supports English and Simplified Chinese. The developer indicates that no data is collected, although Apple says this privacy information has not been verified. Installation, usage, and configuration questions can be sent to [email protected].

MEmu Play is Windows software that simulates Android so users can install, use, and uninstall Android apps on a PC. It supports Google Play and lets users control apps and games with a keyboard and mouse, with external controllers supported in some cases. Features include keyboard mapping, macros, game automation, video recording, GPS simulation, and command-line scripts. Multi-instance mode can run multiple accounts for one game or different games at the same time. The maker describes enhanced OpenGL and DirectX 3D rendering for larger screens. MEmu Play is free and may contain advertisements. It requires Windows 7 or later, a 2-core Intel or AMD processor, enabled hardware virtualization, at least 2 GB RAM (4 GB for x64), and 5 GB of free disk space. The maker says it does not currently offer Mac or Linux versions. Its online installer includes ad plugins users can reject; the maker describes the offline installer as a cleaner version.