Android Studio emulator does not come with Play Store for API 23

I selected this emulator from the newest version of Android Studio AVD.

I have selected the latest version of android API 23. Because it says "with Google APIs", I thought that it would actually include all the Google apps, including Play Store so that I can install apps like Facebook.

I have seen other threads on SO which seems to be outdated now (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28757003/how-to-install-google-play-app-in-android-studio-emulator), this one gives instructions for installing Google apps based on universal packages but it only goes up to Android 4.3 API 18: http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/Google_Apps#Universal_Packages_2

I would like the one for API 23. Is there a way to install the Google Apps package on the emulator?

It seems strange that the official android emulator doesn't come standard with all the google apps in the first place...This doesn't seem very supportive of google and would potential mean developers will have to buy actual devices to develop for API 23?

I've had to do this recently on the API 23 emulator, and followed this guide. It works for API 23 emulator, so you shouldn't have a problem.

Note: All credit goes to the author of the linked blog post (pyoor). I'm just posting it here in case the link breaks for any reason.

....

Download the GAPPS Package

Next we need to pull down the appropriate Google Apps package that matches our Android AVD version. In this case we’ll be using the 'gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip' package. You can download that file from BasketBuild here.

[pyoor@localhost]$ md5sum gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip
367ce76d6b7772c92810720b8b0c931e gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip

In order to install Google Play, we’ll need to push the following 4 APKs to our AVD (located in ./system/priv-app/):

GmsCore.apk, GoogleServicesFramework.apk, GoogleLoginService.apk, Phonesky.apk

[pyoor@localhost]$ unzip -j gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip \
system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk \
system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/GoogleLoginService.apk \
system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk \
system/priv-app/GmsCore/GmsCore.apk -d ./

Push APKs to the Emulator

With our APKs extracted, let’s launch our AVD using the following command.

[pyoor@localhost tools]$ ./emulator @<YOUR_DEVICE_NAME> -no-boot-anim

This may take several minutes the first time as the AVD is created. Once started, we need to remount the AVDs system partition as read/write so that we can push our packages onto the device.

[pyoor@localhost]$ cd ~/android-sdk/platform-tools/
[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb remount

Next, push the APKs to our AVD:

[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb push GmsCore.apk /system/priv-app/
[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb push GoogleServicesFramework.apk /system/priv-app/
[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb push GoogleLoginService.apk /system/priv-app/
[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb push Phonesky.apk /system/priv-app

Profit!

And finally, reboot the emualator using the following commands:

[pyoor@localhost platform-tools]$ ./adb shell stop && ./adb shell start

Once the emulator restarts, we should see the Google Play package appear within the menu launcher. After associating a Google account with this AVD we now have a fully working version of Google Play running under our emulator.

Below is the method that worked for me on API 23-25 emulators. The explanation is provided for API 24 but works almost identically for other versions.

Credits: Jon Doe, zaidorx, pjl.

> Warm advice for readers: please just go over the steps before following them, as some are automated via provided scripts.

---

1. In the AVD manager of Android studio (tested on v2.2.3), create a new emulator with the "Android 7.0 (Google APIs)" target:

2. Download the latest Open GApps package for the emulator's architecture (CPU/ABI). In my case it was x86_64, but it can be something else depending on your choice of image during the device creation wizard. Interestingly, the architecture seems more important than the correct Android version (i.e. gapps for 6.0 also work on a 7.0 emulator).

3. Extract the .apk files using from the following paths (relative to open_gapps-x86_64-7.0-pico-201#####.zip):

   .zip\Core\gmscore-x86_64.tar.lz\gmscore-x86_64\nodpi\priv-app\PrebuiltGmsCore\
   .zip\Core\gsfcore-all.tar.lz\gsfcore-all\nodpi\priv-app\GoogleServicesFramework\
   .zip\Core\gsflogin-all.tar.lz\gsflogin-all\nodpi\priv-app\GoogleLoginService\
   .zip\Core\vending-all.tar.lz\vending-all\nodpi\priv-app\Phonesky\
   

   Note that Open GApps use the Lzip compression, which can be opened using either the tool found on the Lzip website^1,2, or on Mac using homebrew: brew install lzip. Then e.g. lzip -d gmscore-x86_64.tar.lz.

   I'm providing a batch file that utilizes 7z.exe and lzip.exe to extract all required .apks automatically (on Windows):

   @echo off
   echo.
   echo #################################
   echo Extracting Gapps...
   echo #################################
   7z x -y open_gapps-*.zip -oGAPPS
   
   echo Extracting Lzips...
   lzip -d GAPPS\Core\gmscore-x86_64.tar.lz
   lzip -d GAPPS\Core\gsfcore-all.tar.lz
   lzip -d GAPPS\Core\gsflogin-all.tar.lz
   lzip -d GAPPS\Core\vending-all.tar.lz
   
   move GAPPS\Core\*.tar
   
   echo. 
   echo #################################
   echo Extracting tars...
   echo #################################
   
   7z e -y -r *.tar *.apk
   
   echo.
   echo #################################
   echo Cleaning up...
   echo #################################
   rmdir /S /Q GAPPS
   del *.tar
   
   echo.
   echo #################################
   echo All done! Press any key to close.
   echo #################################
   pause>nul
   

   To use this, save the script in a file (e.g. unzip_gapps.bat) and put everything relevant in one folder, as demonstrated below:

4. Update the su binary to be able to modify the permissions of the files we will later upload. A new su binary can be found in the SuperSU by Chainfire package "Recovery flashable" zip. Get the zip, extract it somewhere, create the a batch file with the following contents in the same folder, and finally run it:

   adb root
   adb remount
   
   adb push eu.chainfire.supersu_2.78.apk /system/app/
   adb push x64/su /system/xbin/su
   adb shell chmod 755 /system/xbin/su
   
   adb shell ln -s /system/xbin/su /system/bin/su
   adb shell "su --daemon &"
   adb shell rm /system/app/SdkSetup.apk
   

5. Put all .apk files in one folder and create a batch file with these contents³:

   START /B E:\...\android-sdk\tools\emulator.exe @Nexus_6_API_24 -no-boot-anim -writable-system
   adb wait-for-device
   adb root
   adb shell stop
   adb remount
   adb push PrebuiltGmsCore.apk /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore
   adb push GoogleServicesFramework.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework
   adb push GoogleLoginService.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService
   adb push Phonesky.apk /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk
   adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/**"
   adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/*"
   adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/*"
   adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/*"
   adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/Phonesky/*"
   adb shell start
   

   Notice that the path E:\...\android-sdk\tools\emulator.exe should be modified according to the location of the Android SDK on your system.

6. Execute the above batch file (the console should look like this afterwards):

   O:\123>START /B E:\...\android-sdk\tools\emulator.exe @Nexus_6_API_24 -no-boot-anim -writable-system
   
   O:\123>adb wait-for-device
   Hax is enabled
   Hax ram_size 0x60000000
   HAX is working and emulator runs in fast virt mode.
   emulator: Listening for console connections on port: 5554
   emulator: Serial number of this emulator (for ADB): emulator-5554
   
   O:\123>adb root
   
   O:\123>adb shell stop
   
   O:\123>adb remount
   remount succeeded
   
   O:\123>adb push PrebuiltGmsCore.apk /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/
   [100%] /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/PrebuiltGmsCore.apk
   
   O:\123>adb push GoogleServicesFramework.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/
   [100%] /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk
   
   O:\123>adb push GoogleLoginService.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/
   [100%] /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/GoogleLoginService.apk
   
   O:\123>adb push Phonesky.apk /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk
   [100%] /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk
   
   O:\123>adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/**"
   
   O:\123>adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/*"
   
   O:\123>adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/*"
   
   O:\123>adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/*"
   
   O:\123>adb shell su root "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/Phonesky/*"
   
   O:\123>adb shell start
   

7. When the emulator loads - close it, delete the Virtual Device and then create another one using the same system image. This fixes the unresponsive Play Store app, "Google Play Services has stopped" and similar problems. It works because in the earlier steps we have actually modified the system image itself (take a look at the Date modified on android-sdk\system-images\android-24\google_apis\x86_64\system.img). This means that every device created from now on with the system image will have gapps installed!

8. Start the new AVD. If it takes unusually long to load, close it and instead start it using:

   START /B E:\...\android-sdk\tools\emulator.exe @Nexus_6_API_24
   adb wait-for-device
   adb shell "su --daemon &"
   

   After the AVD starts you will see the image below - notice the Play Store icon in the corner!

---

³ - I'm not sure all of these commands are needed, and perhaps some of them are overkill... it seems to work - which is what counts. :)

Now there's no need to side load any packages of execute any scripts to get the Play Store on the emulator. Starting from Android Studio 2.4 now you can create an AVD that has Play Store pre-installed on it. Currently it is supported only on the AVDs running Android 7.0 (API 24) system images.

Official Source

Note: Compatible devices are denoted by the new Play Store column.

Wanted to comment on the last answer, but without login it’s only possible to make an answer:

To get rid of the "read only error" just stop the device immediately after it’s ready. My script looks as follows:

#!/bin/bash 
~/bin/AndroidSdk/tools/emulator @Nexus_6P_API_23 -no-boot-anim &
adb wait-for-device
adb shell stop
adb remount
adb push GmsCore.apk /system/priv-app
adb push GoogleServicesFramework.apk /system/priv-app
adb push GoogleLoginService.apk /system/priv-app
adb push Phonesky.apk /system/priv-app
adb shell start

Solved in easy way: You should create a new emulator, before opening it for the first time follow these 3 easy steps:

1- go to "C:\Users[user].android\avd[your virtual device folder]" open "config.ini" with text editor like notepad

2- change

"PlayStore.enabled=false" to "PlayStore.enabled=true"

3- change

"mage.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis\x86"

to

"image.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis_playstore\x86"

Here's the script i used on linux for an instance Nexus 5 API 24 x86 WITHOUT GoogleApis.

#!/bin/sh

~/Android/Sdk/tools/emulator @A24x86 -no-boot-anim -writable-system & #where A24x86 is the name i gave to my instance
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb wait-for-device
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb root
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell stop
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb remount
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb push ~/gapps/PrebuiltGmsCore.apk /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/PrebuiltGmsCore.apk
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb push ~/gapps/GoogleServicesFramework.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb push ~/gapps/GoogleLoginService.apk /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/GoogleLoginService.apk
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb push ~/gapps/Phonesky.apk /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService /system/priv-app/Phonesky"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/PrebuiltGmsCore.apk"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/GoogleLoginService/GoogleLoginService.apk"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell "chmod 777 /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk"
~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb shell start

This one did it for me.

IMPORTANT: in order to stop the app from crashing remember to grant google play services location permissions.

Configuration->Apps->Config(Gear icon)->App permissions->Location->(Top right menú)->Show system->Enable Google Play services

What you need to do is update the config.ini file for the device and re-download the system image.

Update the following values in the .ini file

• Windows: C:\Users\USER\.android\avd\DEVICE_ID\config.ini
• Linux: ~/.android/avd/DEVICE_ID/config.ini

PlayStore.enabled = true
image.sysdir.1=system-images\android-27\google_apis_playstore\x86\
tag.display=Google Play
tag.id=google_apis_playstore

Then re-download the system image for the device from Android Studio > Tools > AVD Manager

That is all. Restart your device and you'll have the Play Store installed.

This has also been answered here: How to install Google Play app in Android Studio emulator?

Go to http://opengapps.org/ and download the pico version of your platform and android version. Unzip the downloaded folder to get
1. GmsCore.apk
2. GoogleServicesFramework.apk
3. GoogleLoginService.apk
4. Phonesky.apk

Then, locate your emulator.exe. You will probably find it in
C:\Users<YOUR_USER_NAME>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\tools

Run the command:
emulator -avd <YOUR_EMULATOR'S_NAME> -netdelay none -netspeed full -no-boot-anim -writable-system

Note: Use -writable-system to start your emulator with writable system image.

Then,
adb root
adb remount
adb push <PATH_TO GmsCore.apk> /system/priv-app
adb push <PATH_TO GoogleServicesFramework.apk> /system/priv-app
adb push <PATH_TO GoogleLoginService.apk> /system/priv-app
adb push <PATH_TO Phonesky.apk> /system/priv-app

Then, reboot the emulator
adb shell stop
adb shell start

To verify run,
adb shell pm list packages and you will find com.google.android.gms package for google

As of now, Installing the apks to the /system directory seems to be working using adb push command.

Some hidden service was automatically remounting the /system directory in read-only mode.

Any way I was able to install the Play store in a normal virtual-machine ( Ie, non-Google-Api virtual machine ) by simply mounting the system.img file from my OS and by copying over the files.

# To be executed as root user in your Unix based OS
mkdir sys_temp
mount $SDK_HOME/system-images/android-23/default/x86/system.img sys_temp -o loop
cp Phonesky.apk GmsCore.apk GoogleLoginService.apk GoogleServicesFramework.apk ./sys_temp/priv-app/
umount sys_temp
rmdir sys_temp

The APK files can be pulled from any real Android device running Google Apps by using adb pull command

[ To get the exact path of the apks, we can use command pm list packages -f inside the adb shell ]

Just want to add another solution for React Native users that just need the Expo app.

1. Install the Expo app

2. Open you project

3. Click Device -> Open on Android - In this stage Expo will install the expo android app and you'll be able to open it.