Genymotion User Guide

User Guide

Overview

Genymotion is a complete set of tools that provides a virtual environment for Android. It can be very useful for developers, testers, salesman or even gamers.

It is available for most operating systems: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It is as simple to install as powerful to use:
Follow the simple install process, choose one of our Android virtual devices, start it, and enjoy it!

Features

Android as its best

OpenGL acceleration to achieve the best 3D performance
Enable full screen option and improve your experience
Be precise in your UI development with the "pixel perfect" functionality

Fully controllable

Start multiple virtual device at the same time
Manage sensors:
- Battery level / status
- GPS
- Rotation
- Camera
Override virtual device identifiers
Directly command virtual devices sensors with Genymotion Shell
Fully compatible with ADB. You can control your virtual device from the host

Manage your devices

Easy to install
Compatible with Microsoft Windows 32/64 bits, Mac OSX 10.6+ and Linux 32/64 bits
Configure virtual devices:
- Screen resolution
- Memory quantity
- CPU unit quantity
Download and deploy easily the latest Genymotion virtual device

Start your virtual devices from Eclipse

Test your applications with Genymotion

Requirements

Operating System requirements

You need one of the following system:

Microsoft Windows XP SP3 (32 or 64 bits)
Microsoft Windows Vista (32 or 64 bits)
Microsoft Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits)
Microsoft Windows 8 / 8.1 (32 or 64 bits)
Linux Ubuntu 12.04 (32 or 64 bits)
Linux Ubuntu 12.10 (32 or 64 bits)
Linux Debian Wheezy (64 bits)
Mac OS X 10.6

System requirements

OpenGL 2.0 capable graphic card, with an up-to-date driver
VT-x or AMD-V capable CPU, enabled in BIOS settings
At least 2GB of RAM memory
At least 100MB of free space on Hard Drive for Genymotion installation
A minimum of 2GB of free space is required to deploy each Genymotion virtual devices. They might need more than 8GB depending on your usage of the virtual devices and the applications you have installed.
Internet connection (installation and updates)
Screen resolution greater than 1024 x 768 pixels

Application requirements

Oracle VirtualBox >= 4.2.12 (greater is better)

Genymotion Cloud requirements

Internet Explorer >= 9 (greater is better)
Mozilla Firefox >= 3.0
Google Chrome >= 2.0
Safari >= 4.0

Installation

Register

Go to Genymotion register page
In the signup form, fill the fields with your personal informations
Click the "SIGN UP" button
You will receive a validation E-mail. Click on the validation link to finish
You will receive another E-mail, indicating that your registration is now complete

Download and Install Oracle VirtualBox

If you don't already have VirtualBox installed, read the following section.

Windows
The easiest way to install VirtualBox is to download the Genymotion package that contains VirtualBox installerhere
Mac OS X
Go to VirtualBox download page and get the Mac OS X .dmg file. Open the .dmg file and follow the installation steps. When finished, reboot.
Linux
Check your repositories: almost every GNU/Linux have a package installer for VirtualBox. If not, or if you need to install a specific version, go to VirtualBox download page

Download Genymotion

Go to official Genymotion download page
Select the package corresponding to your system and download it

Install Genymotion

Depending of your system, follow the install process:

Windows
1. Double click on .msi installer
2. Choose the installer language (the Genymotion language depends of your system language) and click the "Next" button
3. Click the "Next" button again
4. Change the path if needed (the default path is C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion) then click the "Next" button
5. Click the "Next" button again
6. Choose whether or not to create desktop icon. Then click "Next" button
7. Click the "Install" button
8. Click the "Finish" button
Mac OS X
1. Open the .dmg installer
2. Move Genymotion and Genymotion Shell to application directory

Linux

In a terminal, run the following commands:

chmod +x [DOWNLOAD_PATH]/genymotion-[VERSION]_[ARCH].bin
cd [DOWNLOAD_PATH]
./genymotion-[VERSION]_[ARCH].bin -d [YOUR_INSTALL_PATH]

Run Genymotion:
```
cd [YOUR_INSTALL_PATH]
./genymotion
```

Quick start

Run Genymotion
- Windows
  Click the icon on your desktop
- MacOS
  Click the icon from the Application directory
- Linux
  Launch [InstallationPath]/genymotion
The main window appears.
And immediately, a pop-up appears and invites you to add your first virtual device.
Click the "Yes" button.
The creation window appears.
Click the "Connect" button.
Fill the authentication window with your Genymotion Cloud username/email address and password, then click the "Connect" button.
Once connected, you will see all the available virtual devices.
Select a virtual device (Nexus 7 - 4.3, for example) in the list and click the "Next" button.
Choose a new name for your virtual device and click the "Next" button.
Your virtual device will now be downloaded and deployed.
Click the "Finish" button to close the deployment window.
Click the "Play" button to start your newly created virtual device.
Enjoy.

Licensing

Genymotion licensing system

For more informations about Genymotion software usage, please visit the following page: Usage disclaimer

Licenses differences and contents

For more details about the content of each licenses and differences among licenses, please visit the following page:Licenses details

License installation

To install a license into Genymotion and use the related features (Remote Control widget, Screencast widget, ...), follow these steps:

Run Genymotion
Open the 'About' window
Copy and paste your license key in the dedicated text field
Press the 'Register' button
If you're not already logged, a window will open and allow you to enter your credentials
License information are sent to the Genymotion Cloud to check their validity

If your license is valid, your software will be fully unlocked and all corresponding features will be available.

If you have any problem registering your license, please, contact us using the support page

Software activation

To check your license validity and ensure nobody else is using it, you’ll have to connect periodically to the Genymotion Cloud with Genymotion.

If you don't connect for several days, then your Genymotion software will switch back to free mode.

When your license is about to expire, the Genymotion software will notify you and ask you to connect to Genymotion Cloud.

Genymotion Application

Manage window

The main Genymotion window lets you manage your virtual Genymotion devices:

In the menu bar, you can:

Launch the selected virtual device, using the "Play" button
Create a new virtual device, using the "Add" button
Open the application settings, using the "Settings" button
Open the information window, using the "About" button
Open the documentation, using the "Help" button

You can also use the dedicated button or the context menu on each virtual device to:

Configure virtual machine settings (resolution, DPI, Android navigation bar, ...)
Remove a virtual device

Virtual device creation window

When clicking the "Add" button of the main window, it will open the virtual device creation window:

From this window, you can choose and create virtual device from the ones available online, or locally.

If you don't see any virtual device in the list, click the "Connect" button at the bottom of the list.

Genymotion Cloud connection window

When clicking the "Connect" button, you will be prompt for your Genymotion Cloud credentials:

Application settings

General tab

The general tab contains basic settings.

Automatically checks for software update: enable update process at start.
Authorize send of software statistic for the purpose of improve it: allow Genymotion to send anonymous usage statistics. This really helps us understanding how the product is used to improve it.
Notify me when my license is about to expire: enable license notifications. Genymotion will inform you before your license expiration.
Notify me when my activation is about to expire: enable activation notifications. Genymotion will inform when you will need to renew your software activation. You must connect to the Genymotion Cloud to refresh your software activation.
Remember my Genymotion Cloud credentials: enable quick connections. You have to set your username and password in the corresponding fields. Note that password will not be stored in plain text but in an encrypted form.

Network tab

Change the network settings to fit your Internet access.

Use HTTP Proxy: tell Genymotion to use a proxy to connect to Genymotion Cloud. You have to set your proxy address and port in the corresponding fields. Only HTTP proxy works. NTLM or Socks proxy won’t.
Use authentication: enable proxy authentication. You must enter your username and password in the corresponding fields.

VirtualBox tab

Configure virtual devices storage path.

Virtual device path: set where to store Genymotion virtual devices. It must be an absolute path.

ADB tab

Configure Genymotion to use ADB

By default, Genymotion use its own ADB utility. But it is possible to use your own ADB configuration (from Android SDK).

Use Genymotion tools (default): work with ADB tool provided with Genymotion.
Use custom Android tools: set the storage path of an installed Android SDK, to use tools provided by this SDK. For more information on how to install your own Android SDK, follow this tutorial.

Misc tab

Set various options.

Capture location: you can modify the storage path for screenshots and video.
Cache usage: to save space on your workstation, you can remove temporary downloaded files and logs withClear cache button.

Virtual device management

From the virtual devices list, you can:

Configure: Modify selected virtual device settings.
Clone: Copy this virtual device to a new one.
Factory Reset: Restore selected virtual device to its initial state.
Delete: Delete selected virtual device.

Virtual device settings

In this window, you can configure virtual device settings such as its screen size, density, navigation bar, ...

Predefined screen size: set screen size and density from a predefined list.
Custom screen size: set a custom screen size and density. Warning, you may experience issues when using custom density and screen size values.
Run virtual device in full screen mode: if checked, the virtual device will start in fullscreen mode and its screen size will be adjusted to your screen size.
Show Android navigation bar: if checked, the virtual device will start with Android navigation bar enabled (with 3 Android buttons: Back, Home and Recent applications)
Use virtual keyboard for text input: if checked, the virtual device will use either the virtual keyboard or your computer keyboard when focusing on an input area. If not checked, then your computer keyboard will be used.

Virtual device factory reset

When you deploy a new virtual device, at the end of the deployment, a snapshot is created. At any time you can restore your virtual device to its initial state just by using the "Factory Reset" button.

Warning: All installed applications, system patches, modified settings and data will be lost.

Virtual device starting

When you run a virtual device from the main window of Genymotion, there are three steps:

Set network parameters and rendering parameters.
Check if CPU virtualization (VT-X on Intel processors and AMD-V on AMD processors) is enabled. If not, then your virtual device doesn't support the management of several processors. In this case, the number of processors will be set to 1 automatically.
Check if the Genymotion version of your virtual device is compatible with the Genymotion version software.

If all these steps passed with success then your Genymotion virtual device is ready to use.

Virtual device update

If Genymotion is up-to-date but a new version of virtual devices has been released, we recommend that you update some or all of your virtual devices.

When starting a virtual device, a popup window indicates that a newer version is available. Click Update.

Genymotion virtual device update popup

During the update process, the wizard introduces some of the new features.

Genymotion virtual device update popup

Note that when you upgrade a virtual device, the following items will not be lost:

User settings in Android
System packages that you have deployed via drag'n drop
Applications that you have installed, and their data

Genymotion virtual devices

Virtual device execution

This is the window where the virtual device is running and where you can interact with it

Genymotion widget buttons
- Genymotion widget Battery button (CTRL + 1)
- Genymotion widget GPS button (CTRL + 2)
- Genymotion widget Camera button (CTRL + 3)
- Genymotion widget Screencast button (CTRL + 4)
- Genymotion widget Remote Control button (CTRL + 5)
- Genymotion widget Identifier button (CTRL + 6)
Genymotion Screencast buttons
- Take a screenshot (CTRL + SHIFT + S)
- Record a video (CTRL + SHIFT + V)
- Browse recorded media files (CTRL + SHIFT + E)
Control buttons
- Virtual device rotation button (CTRL + F11)
- Pixel perfect button (CTRL + R)
- Volume up button (CTRL + +)
- Volume down button (CTRL + -)
- Back button (CTRL + BACKSPACE)
- Recent applications button(CTRL + SPACE)
- Menu button (CTRL + M)
- Home button (CTRL + HOME)
- Power button (CTRL + ESCAP)

Multi-touch Gestures

Because in most cases, virtual devices are controlled with mouse and keyboard, some shortcuts have been implemented to help simulate common gestures:

Right click + Move mouse to the Left: Zoom In
Right click + Move mouse to the Right: Zoom Out

Right click + Move mouse Up: Tilt Forth
Right click + Move mouse Down: Tilt Back

SHIFT + Right click + Move mouse to the Left: Counterclockwise Rotation
SHIFT + Right click + Move mouse to the Right: Clockwise Rotation

Note: on Apple OS X, you can replace Right click by using CTRL + click

Drag & drop

Genymotion virtual devices support files drag&drop from computer to the device. Behaviour is different depending on the file type:

Regular files: regulars files will be pushed to /sdcard/Download.
They can be accessed by the the file explorer provided into the virtual device.
Android applications: APK will be installed on the virtual device.
If the same application already exists with another signature, you will have the choice to override the existing application.
Flashable archives: zip archives detected as flashable (containing a /system folder) will be flash on the device.
Such archives may damage your Genymotion virtual device. It is recommended to reboot your virtual device after flashing an archive.

Note: drag&drop requires ADB configured to work. Click here to learn how to configure ADB with Genymotion.

Copy/past

The clipboard is shared between your computer and Genymotion. Thus, you can easily copy and paste text from your computer to Genymotion, and reciprocally.

Pixel perfect!

If you want to be precise in your UI development, you can use the "pixel perfect" button.

One click on the button will enable pixel-perfect mode. Each pixel of the device will be displayed using only one pixel of your monitor, allowing you to ensure every pixel of your application is really as it should be.
Another click will exit the pixel-perfect mode.

Note: if the device screen size is bigger than your monitor size, Genymotion window will be maximized and you will be able to use scrollbars to move into the device screen.

Battery widget

The battery widget allows modifications of the battery level, power status and power mode of the Genymotion virtual device.

First, open the widget using the corresponding panel button

Activate the simulated battery mode
By default, the Genymotion virtual device simulates the same battery as the one present in your computer. This button activate the simulation of a battery with custom values that you can adjust to test your application.

When your computer does not have a battery (desktop computer for example), the simulated is automatically activated.
Modify the battery power level
When the simulated battery is activated, you can specify the Genymotion current battery level using the slider or by entering manually the value in the corresponding field.
Modify the status
When the simulated battery is activated, you can also modify the current status of the battery with the corresponding button:
- Charging: the AC is plugged in and the battery is currently in charging state
- Discharging: the AC is unplugged and the battery is currently in discharging state

GPS widget

The GPS widget allows *real time* activation and modifications of the position,accuracy and orientation.

Activate the GPS
When you activate the GPS with the corresponding button, you enable the reception of generated GPS frames in the Genymotion virtual device. When it is not activated, the GPS is not able to refresh the position, and the last known location is used.
Modify position
Using the latitude and longitude field, you can specify the current position you want to simulated. They must be specified in degrees: the latitude from -90.0° to 90.0°, and the longitude from -180 to 180°
Modify the altitude
You can specify a custom altitude from -10000 m to 10000 m
Modify accuracy
You can specify a custom accuracy value using the slider or by entering the desired value from 0 to 200 m.
Modify bearing
You can modify the bearing using the corresponding dial, or by entering the desired value form 0 to 359,99°

Note than many applications do not rely on the GPS orientation, but use the device accelerometer or gyroscope to determine the bearing of the device, which are not yet supported.

Camera widget

The Camera widget allows you to send a video stream to the Android system from a Genymotion virtual device.

With this feature you can test your Android application that requires the use of Android device builtin camera (eg, the development of an application such as a camera or video editing application type, ...).

The video stream can come from a dummy camera or a real physical webcam connected (or integrated) in your workstation. So you can send a real-time streaming.

Activate the Camera widget
When you activate the widget with the corresponding button, the Genymotion software tries to detect the available webcam on your workstation.
Front and rear cameras:
- Front camera allows to send data to the Android front camera
- Back camera allows to send data to the Android back camera
For the front camera or for the back camera or for both, you can choose the source of data :
- Dummy webcam: data are images generated by the widget
- Physical (real) webcam: data are images sent by the selected webcam
Preview:
The preview allows you to see the video stream which will be sent to the Android system, as the front or as the back camera.
With this preview, you know if webcam is operational.

Screencast widget

The Screencast widget allows you to take a screenshot or to record a video (with sound capture) of virtual devices.
It is very convenient to broadcast images or videos of your applications on web sites (Youtube, Google Play, ...).

All screenshots and recordings are stored in your home directory, in a folder named with your virtual device name. You can change this default folder in the configuration panel.

Screenshot button
When you press this button, a screenshot of your virtual device is stored in configured folder.
The shortcut for this action is CTRL-SHIFT-S.
Video button
When you press this button, a video of your virtual device starts recording. Press this button again to stop recording.
If your virtual device emits sound then it will be captured with the video.
The shortcut for this action is CTRL-SHIFT-V.
Browse button
When you press this button, a file explorer opens to allow you to directly access your screenshots and recorded videos.
The shortcut for this action is CTRL-SHIFT-E.

Note: All screencast features are accessible via shortcuts even if Screencast widget is not displayed.

Remote control widget

The remote control widget allows you to take control of Genymotion virtual devices with your real device (any phone or tablet running API 8/Froyo or greater). This widget works with a specific Android application that runs on your device and forwards touch inputs and accelerometer values to Genymotion.
As a result, you will be able to test the behavior of your application as if it was running in your hands.

Activate the Remote control widget
When activating the widget with the corresponding button, Genymotion tries to detect any connected Android devices.
Select the device and start
Select your device in the list box, then click the "Start" button. If the device is connected to ADB and not visible in the list, then restart the widget.
Enable options
You can toggle the desired options:
- Display preview.
  Allows you to preview your Genymotion screen on your physical device.
- Touch input.
  Allows your physical device to send touch events to Genymotion.
- Accelerometer.
  Allows your physical device to send accelerometer events to Genymotion

Remarks:

You must install ADB to use this feature.
The widget automatically stops if you disconnect your device without stopping the widget; you can resume the remote control widget reconnecting the device to ADB and clicking the "Start" button.
Errors will appear between the select box and the options. Moving the mouse on the error will display the details.

Identifier widget

Genymotion identifier widget shows Device ID and Android ID numbers. You can see and edit these values at runtime, without having to reboot your virtual device.

Android ID

An Android ID is a 64-bit number (as a 16 hex digits string) that is randomly generated when the user first sets up the device and should remain constant for the whole lifetime of user's device.

Android 4.2.2 and newer versions support multiple user accounts, each one having a unique Android ID.

Button

on the right of input text box generates a random identifier for you.

Valid characters for setting Android ID are:

16 hexadecimal digits long (mandatory).

Note: it is NOT allowed to set an empty Android ID.

Device ID / IMEI / MEID

By default, a new virtual device is deployed with a default Device ID of 00 000000 000000 0.
Button on the right of input text box generates a random identifier for you. As IMEI or MEID number are used as Device ID, Genymotion will generate valid numbers, according to GSM 02.16 standard and 3GPP2 specification (14 digits or hex-digits + a checksum digit).

Valid characters for setting Device ID / IMEI / MEID are:

dot (.)
letters (a-z, A-Z)
digits (0-9)
dash (-) and underscore (_)

Note that it is allowed to set an empty Device ID.

Eclipse Plugin

One of the most interesting feature of Genymotion is that you can test your application developed with Eclipse IDE. It uses ADB to connect to any active Genymotion virtual devices and then push your application.

Plugin installation

There are two ways to install the plugin:

Update Site method
- Start Eclipse
- Go to the "Help/Install New Software..." menu
- In the new opened window, click the "Add..." button (on top right of the window)
- Fill the fields with these items and then validate:
  - Name: Genymobile
  - Location: http://plugins.genymotion.com/eclipse
- You should see a tree with Genymobile < Genymotion names
- Check those entries and then, click "Next"
- Read and Accept the license
- Eclipse will warn you that the plugin is not signed, accept it even though
- To finish the installation, restart Eclipse
- After Eclipse's restart, you will see a new button on the toolbar:
- Finally, you can check install: Go to "Help/About" menu, click the "Installation Details" button. In the "Plugin" column Genymotion should appear
Manual method
- Ensure Eclipse is closed
- Download the plugin on Genymotion official download page
- Depending of you system, follow the steps:
  - Windows
    - If you have administrator rights, put the jar archive in plugins directory of your Eclipse install
    - Without administrator rights, put the jar archive in plugins directory of your Local Settings\Eclipse
  - Mac OS X
    - With administrator rights, put the jar archive in plugins directory of your Eclipse install
  - Linux
    - If you have administrator rights, put the jar archive in plugins directory of your Eclipse install
    - Without administrator rights, put the jar archive in plugins directory of your /home/[user]/Eclipse

Plugin usage

Click the button in Eclipse toolbar to open the plugin

First start

You will need to set path to Genymotion installation directory (given default path only works for standard's Genymotion installation):
- Windows: C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion
- Mac OS X: /Applications/Genymotion.app
- Linux: /home/[user]/genymotion
Click the "Apply" button and then "OK"
Click again the button to prompt the main plugin window

Actions

In the plugin main window, you can do the following steps:

Start a Genymotion virtual device
Create a new Genymotion virtual device
Refresh the list of Genymotion virtual device

"Create" action will automatically start the Genymotion creation wizard

virtual device states

In the "status" column of the main window can take the following status:

Off: The virtual device is in Off state
Paused: The virtual device has been started, and then paused : restart action will get back at exactly same state
On: The virtual device is on, but not connected to ADB. It means that you cannot choose this virtual device in the "Android Device Chooser" window of ADT plug-in

Use Genymotion to run Android application

First, click the button and start the virtual device you want to use.
Close the Genymotion main window
In your application project, right click and chose "Run as Android application"
The "Android Devices Chooser" opens
Click on the Genymotion virtual device you started/created
```
Genymotion-VMNAME-@IP:PORT
```
Where:
- VMNAME is the virtual device name, as define in Genymotion
- @IP:PORT are the device address and port (assigned by ADB)
After a reboot or an unexpected halt of a Genymotion virtual device, its displayed name in the "Android Devices Chooser" window can became unrelated. Close and re-open the Genymotion plugin to resolve this

Error handling

While Genymotion plugin window is open, errors are printed in Eclipse console.

IntelliJ Plugin

As for Eclipse, we provide a plugin for IntelliJ IDE (Like Android Studio, or IDEA).
With it, you can easily test your applications. It uses ADB to connect to any running Genymotion virtual device and then push your application.