What is an Android Emulator

The Android Emulator simulates Android devices on your computer so that you can test your app on a variety of devices and Android API levels without a physical device. The emulator comes with Android Studio, which is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Android app development.

You can set up an Android Emulator to develop apps on the Clover platform that runs on the Clover operating system (COS). Use the configured emulator to prototype, develop, and test your Clover applications.

Limitations and exceptions

• You can develop and test many apps using the emulator. Still, some hardware-specific functionalities, such as NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy, secure payments, printing, and scanning, are better tested on a Clover Developer Kit (Dev Kit). Dev Kits provide access to these features and offer a more accurate representation of the actual Clover devices. See Clover Developer Kits (Dev Kits).
• You need separate commands for the United States and Europe production environments. See Update device settings for production testing.
• Only the Owner of a merchant account can set up an emulator.
• You cannot emulate the Station Duo or Duo 2 because they are a combination of two devices—Terminal and Display.

Before you begin

1. Use a computer with at least the following specifications: 16 GB RAM, 64-bit Windows, macOS, Linux, or ChromeOS operating system, and 16 GB disk space.
2. Download and install Android Studio.
3. Download the Clover device hardware profiles ZIP file.
4. Install the appropriate Clover development APK.
5. Download and install Python version 3.5 and later to run the Python script that is required for the emulator setup and also to interact with the emulator and automate testing tasks. If your computer returns to Python 2 as a default, you may need to use the pip3 and python3 commands to install the required modules and run the script. The 'urllib3` is a required module for the script.
6. Check the Android release version and related API level on the System Image page for your virtual device. See 1. Create a new emulator profile. If the Download icon displays next to a system image, that image isn't installed on your computer. Click the icon to download and then install the system image.
   Note: Download a system image without the Google APIs. Clover devices are not Google Play certified and, therefore, do not come with Google Play Services.
   More about API levels and ABI

   Each version of Android has a corresponding API level. When you create a virtual device to test your app, you select a system image that corresponds to a specific Android version and the API level. The API level of the device is important because your app cannot run on a system image with an API level that's lower than the one required by your app. The system image is designed for a specific Application Binary Interface (ABI), which corresponds to the CPU architecture—X86 or ARM—that the emulator will simulate. The Android Emulator allows apps to run by matching the app's ABI (binary format) with the emulator's ABI and translating if necessary.
7. Use the appropriate app permission model:

• Clover devices follow the grant at install app permission model. This model lets Clover merchants grant device permissions to apps as part of the app installation. To use the grant at install app permission model on the emulator, set the target SDK level to 22 or lower.
• Android 6.0 (API level 23) Grant all runtime permissions for testing model lets you assign user permissions to apps while the app is running, not when they install the app. If your app requires target SDK level 23, 24, or 25, implement the grant at runtime model to have your app run correctly on the emulator.

Related topics

• Set up the emulator in Android Studio
• Work with APKs
• Integrate with Clover Android SDK