In Visual Studio, in a Xamarin project, open your Android SDK Tools. If you know where the SDK Tools are in the filesystem, you can also do it that way :) You can also type 'Android SDK Manager' in the QuickLaunch bar on the top right.
- Download Android Virtual Device Manager
- Mac Avd Manager Unable To Locate Adb
- Install Avd Manager Mac
- Avd Manager Mac Android Studio
Then, make sure you have the Intel Hardware Acceleration Manager (HAXM) installed, which will speed everything up TREMENDOUSLY. The reason it's so much faster is the x86 instruction set is the same as your Intel processor, and also uses Intel's virtualization hardware acceleration, provided by HAXM. The 'ARM' device simulators simulate ARM processors, which can't easily be simulated by your PC's or Mac's x86-based processor, so they're horrifically slow.
(Solved see bellow)My AVD Manager doesn't launch while SDK Manager works good. It worked once yesterday (so i could create one emulator) but now i can't access AVD Manager (no error, just don't. Aug 5, 2012 - Office for Mac with Microsoft 365, gives you power and flexibility to get things done from virtually anywhere. 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 AVD Manager is an interface you can launch from Android Studio that helps you create and manage AVDs. 在 Android 開發實務上,最重要的就是考慮到手機的版本,如果使用比較高的版本開發,在比較低的版本則不一定能使用,所以要怎麼辦呢?最重要的就是安裝多種版本的 SDK 來做開發,並且使用不同解析度的 Android 虛擬機器 (Android Virtual Device, AVD) 來多做測試囉!.
Then, when debugging, make sure you only use the x86 device simulators, which you access via the Android Virtual Device Manager, next to the SDK Manager:
Visual Studio does have an Android simulator, but I've found the latest Android simulator much better, and it's officially from Google :)
Remember: ALWAYS test your app on REAL DEVICES. Simulators aren't enough of a test. They're great for development, of course!
Hope that helps!
A few more references:
Download Android Virtual Device Manager
Xamarin Android Simulator Article: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/deployment,_testing,_and_metrics/debug-on-emulator/android-sdk-emulator/
Mac Avd Manager Unable To Locate Adb
Install Avd Manager Mac
Xamarin University on Android Player: https://university.xamarin.com/resources/working-with-android-emulators
Avd Manager Mac Android Studio
Intel HAXM: https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-hardware-accelerated-execution-manager-intel-haxm