How to install apps onto the emulator?

[bryanrichie]

Trying to download an app onto the emulator but not having any luck with it. I've tried downloading an apk and dragging it onto the emulator but I get an error "Failed to start adb. Check settings to verify your chosen adb path is valid" and when I try to use Chrome to find the apk and download straight through the emulator it just crashes.

[tuobraun]

The same problem. I believe that the only workaround here is to install apks via Terminal:

adb devices
adb install app_name.apk

That works fine. Of course it would be nice to have a much easier drag & drop way supported.

[777Harry]

Hi, I get this on several apps that I tried to install:

adb install Slots™_v1.6.2.4g_apkpure.com.apk Performing Streamed Install adb: failed to install Slots™_v1.6.2.4g_apkpure.com.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_NO_MATCHING_ABIS: Failed to extract native libraries, res=-113]

Then again, I did manage to install 'Google Play Games' and 1 game.

Harry

[741g]

You'll need to install Android Studio/SDK along with adb. If you get an ABI error, it means that the ABI of the game doesn't match the emulator's ABI. The M1 emulator supports only arm64 ABI, and does not support armv7.

[777Harry]

I was dragging an .apk to the trash and went across the emulator window and got a message that 'apks will be installed, others copied to the sdcard' so I guess drag and drop is supposed to work (haven't tried yet). I also found a website where one can specify arm64-v8a .apks so I don't have to hope I find the correct one.

[qoro]

I just got the apks from apkmirror, uploaded them to my Google Drive, signed into my drive on the emulator and downloaded them from there. Works fine, but the apps must be 64bit.

[tomer2526]

I made a video that explains how to install any APK in Android emulator in Mac based arm: https://youtu.be/SEQuLtlgR_E

I hope this will help you

[777Harry]

Seems a lot of work when I just drag-n-drop the .apk in the emulator window (after entering where ADB is in the Settings)