MacOS and/or Ubuntu support for Android Pixel 8 and above emulator

[SomniumDigital]

Tool name

Android emulator

Tool license

?

Add or update?

• Add
• Update

Desired version

Pixel 8

Approximate size

No response

Brief description of tool

At the moment despite writing various Bash scripts in an attempt to install the latest version of the Android emulator using the SDK Manager, on Ubuntu the newest version of the Google Pixel phone is a 6 and on MacOS it's a 7. Version 35.x of the Android emulator comes with variants of both the Pixel 8 and 9 phones, however when running the command $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/avdmanager list they do not appear to be available.

It's also worth noting that the script contained within the docs on this page are not correct - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/ecosystems/android?view=azure-devops#test-on-the-android-emulator. There is no mention of a recommended platform and image to use and it does not install the emulator if one does not exist. There is also no mention of having to install the libpulse package on Ubuntu to get the emulator to install and work properly.

URL for tool's homepage

https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/emulator#35-3-11

Provide a basic test case to validate the tool's functionality.

                steps:
                  - bash: |
                      echo "##[debug]Install libpulse0 package"
                      echo "yes" | apt-fast install libpulse0

                      echo "##[debug]Android Home dir pre-install"
                      echo "yes" | ls $ANDROID_HOME
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]List installed Android SDK packages"
                      echo "yes" | $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager --list
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]Install Android API"
                      echo "yes" | $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools" "platforms;android-35" "system-images;android-35;google_apis_playstore;x86_64"
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]Install Android Emulator"
                      echo "yes" | $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager "emulator"
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]List installed Android SDK packages post-install"
                      echo "yes" | $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager --list
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]Android Home dir post-install"
                      echo "yes" | ls $ANDROID_HOME
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]List available devices"
                      $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/avdmanager list
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]Emulator version"
                      $ANDROID_HOME/emulator/emulator -version
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]List emulators"
                      $ANDROID_HOME/emulator/emulator -list-avds
                      echo "-- -- -- --"

                      echo "##[debug]Create emulator"
                      $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/avdmanager create avd -n e2e_test -k 'system-images;android-35;google_apis_playstore;x86_64' -d 'pixel_8'

Platforms where you need the tool

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions

Runner images where you need the tool

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Can this tool be installed during the build?

Tool installation time in runtime

No response

Are you willing to submit a PR?

No response

[RaviAkshintala]

Hi @SomniumDigital Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.