Android Emulator on a Mac With Several Users: What Each Account Keeps

One Mac, two macOS accounts: a personal one and a work one, or yours and a family member’s. MACOS EMULATOR is not shared between two accounts: each has its own complete Android emulator, apart from the app itself. Here is what gets set up again, what it takes on the disk, and what the license says.

Each macOS account has its own emulator

The launcher keeps everything in the user’s folder, nothing in a shared place on the Mac. Since each macOS account has its own folder, each account has its own copies of:

• the emulation engine and the Android system;
• the Android device, with its games and, in Full mode, your Google session;
• your configuration, your keys and your logs;
• the saved license key.

Only one thing is shared: the app. In the Applications folder, it opens from every account. Keep a single copy on the Mac.

What gets set up again in a new account

To the launcher, a new account is a brand new Mac. Open the app from Applications, then pick up the emulator installation guide from the engine step:

1. 1The engine: about 3.5 GB to download, even if another account already has it.
2. 2The Accessibility permission, if the launcher asks for it in this account: click “Authorize”, then System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility.
3. 3The license key, the first time you click Install or Play.
4. 4In Full mode, the app installs the game from Google Play with your own Google account: you sign in with that account in this session, and install your games there.
5. 5The first boot of the device: a few minutes, ten to twenty on an 8 GB Mac, once per account.
6. 6Your keys, to set again: they stay in the account where you set them.

The starting values need nothing from you: the launcher reads the Mac’s memory in each account and sets the same ones. There is no setting to copy over.

One key per person, not per account

A license covers one Mac, and it is personal: our terms describe “a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license” and state that “sharing, reselling, or publishing your license key is prohibited”. So there are two cases:

• You have two macOS accounts on your Mac: your key is enough, paste it in each account. The launcher recognizes the Mac by its hardware identifier, not by the account. The Mac therefore takes a single seat, the Active Mac line in your customer area stays at 1 / 1, and “Switch Mac” is of no use here.
• There are two of you on the same Mac: each of you gets a license and pastes their own key in their own account. Each license has its own Mac seat, so both fit on this machine.

A saved key stays in its account: “Sign out” in one does not remove it from the other. Each account also keeps its own 72 hours offline token. Moving your license to another Mac is a different step: the guide to switching Macs covers it.

Two accounts, twice the disk space

Nothing is shared between accounts, not even the engine. The installation needs about 10 GB in each, then each device grows with its games. The accounts’ folders are usually on the same disk: the installation check therefore looks at what the first account left behind. Under 12 GB free, the “Install game engine” button stays grayed out. From 12 to 25 GB, a warning shows. The green check comes at 25 GB.

“Free up space” only works in your account: it removes nothing from the one next door. The guide to an emulator’s disk space details what each part weighs.

Before switching to the other account

Power off the device with the red button in the toolbar, then quit the launcher: quitting alone does not power it off. Two devices running at the same time, one in each account, have never been measured, and we do not promise it.

An account left open keeps its apps, and the memory they hold. Performance mode only sets aside the apps of your account: it does not touch the other one’s. If the game stutters, log out of the other account before looking for a setting: go to that account, then Apple menu, Log Out.

Uninstalling from one account

Uninstall only erases the data of the account where you click: engine, device, configuration, saved key. The other accounts’ folders are not touched.

The app, however, is shared. It goes to the Trash, so it disappears from Applications for everyone. The other account only has to download it again from its customer area (“Download the app”): its data is waiting, and its key is not asked for again.

From an account that is not an administrator, macOS may refuse to trash an app installed by an administrator account. Your data is then already erased, and the launcher asks you to drag the app to the Trash: if another account uses it, leave it in place. The guide to uninstalling an Android emulator covers the rest.

Frequently asked questions