EmuHub is a lightweight macOS menu bar utility for managing Android emulators (AVDs) and connected physical Android devices — with zero Terminal required.
Click the menu bar icon, launch an AVD, and monitor every connected device. That's it.
- List all configured Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) with device-type icons — phone, tablet, TV, Wear OS, and Automotive
- Launch any AVD with a single click
- Cleanly stop running emulators via
adb emu kill - Running emulators display their resolved AVD name (e.g., "Pixel 7") and active port
- Automatically detects connected physical Android devices over USB or Wi-Fi (ADB wireless debugging)
- Displays the real device model name (e.g., "Pixel 8 Pro") fetched via
adb shell getprop - Shows the Android version for each authorized device
- Correct tablet icon shown when the connected device is a tablet
- Clear status labels for unauthorized and offline devices with actionable guidance
- Connection type (USB / Wi-Fi) shown in the device status badge
Each running emulator and authorized physical device exposes a ••• actions menu (also available via right-click) and inline buttons on the device card:
- Screenshot — captures the current screen and saves a PNG to your Desktop, opening it in Finder
- Screen recording — records the screen via
adb shell screenrecord(Android caps this at 3 minutes), saves the MP4 to your Desktop, and reveals it in Finder; a red indicator shows on the device tile while recording - Install APK — drag-and-drop an
.apkonto the device card to install it (adb install -r) - Reboot — reboot normally, into Recovery, or into Bootloader (
adb reboot) - Open adb Shell — opens Terminal with an interactive
adb -s <serial> shellsession ready to go - Manage Apps — opens a panel listing user-installed packages, each with Launch, Force Stop, Clear Data, and Uninstall actions
- View Logs — opens a live
adb logcatviewer with color-coded priority badges, a minimum-level filter (Verbose → Fatal), tag/message search, pause/resume, clear, and copy- or save-to-Desktop export (rolling 5,000-line buffer) - Copy Serial / Copy Wi-Fi Address — copies the device serial (or wireless address) to the clipboard
- Create a new AVD in-app from any installed system image and hardware profile (via
avdmanager) - Search/filter the AVD list
- Launch options per AVD: normal launch, Cold Boot (
-no-snapshot-load), or Wipe Data & Boot (-wipe-data) - Delete an AVD from the right-click menu, with a confirmation prompt (
avdmanager delete avd) — blocked while the emulator is running
- Modern translucent (glassy) menu-bar UI with frosted-glass device cards, vibrancy background, and tinted device tiles that adapt to light and dark mode
- The glass treatment carries through every screen — Settings, Help, About, Software Update, and New AVD use the same frosted group cards, tinted glass icon tiles, and translucent input fields
- Press ⌥⌘X (Option + Command + X) from anywhere to open or close the EmuHub popover
- Works globally when EmuHub is in the background (requires Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security)
- Also works locally to dismiss the popover when it is already open (no extra permission needed)
- Auto-detect Android SDK path, or configure it manually
- Pass custom launch arguments to the emulator (e.g.,
-no-snapshot-load -gpu host) - Configurable auto-refresh interval (3–60 seconds)
- Launch at login support (macOS 14+)
- In-app update checker via GitHub Releases API
- Shows installed vs latest version with direct download link
- Auto-checks on first open of the Software Update page
- Download the latest
.zipfrom GitHub Releases - Unzip and drag EmuHub.app into your Applications folder
- On first launch, remove the quarantine attribute:
sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/EmuHub.appThen open EmuHub normally from Applications.
Note: EmuHub is built via GitHub Actions and is currently not notarized.
macOS will show a security warning on first launch — this is expected behavior for unsigned apps.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| macOS | 14.0 Sonoma or newer |
| Android SDK | Installed at ~/Library/Android/sdk (auto-detected) |
| adb | Included in platform-tools inside the SDK |
| Android Emulator | Included in emulator inside the SDK |
| Physical devices | Optional — USB or Wi-Fi (ADB wireless debugging) |
- Click the EmuHub icon in the menu bar
- In the Available section, find the AVD you want to launch
- Click Launch (or hover for the button to appear)
- The emulator boots and appears in the Running section
- In the Running section, hover over the emulator row
- Click Stop — EmuHub sends
adb emu killto cleanly terminate it
- Connected Android phones and tablets appear automatically in the Running section
- The device model name (e.g., "Samsung Galaxy S24") and Android version are shown
- Physical devices are read-only — Stop and Launch actions are not available for real hardware
- If a device shows Unauthorized, unlock the device and tap Allow on the USB debugging prompt
- If a device shows Offline, try a different cable (USB) or check your network (Wi-Fi), then run
adb kill-serverin Terminal - If a Wi-Fi device appears twice, EmuHub automatically deduplicates the entries and shows only one
- Press ⌥⌘X from anywhere to open or close EmuHub instantly
- To enable the global shortcut (opening from background): go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and enable EmuHub
- Open the menu (≡ icon) → Software Update
- EmuHub compares your installed version with the latest GitHub Release
- Click Download if a newer version is available
EmuHub intentionally treats physical devices as read-only to prevent accidental actions on real hardware.
| State | Meaning | Action Required |
|---|---|---|
| USB connected | USB debugging authorized over cable | None — device is visible |
| Wi-Fi connected | Wireless debugging active (Android 11+) | None — device is visible |
| Unauthorized | USB debugging prompt pending | Tap Allow on the device |
| Offline (USB) | adb can't reach the device over cable | Check USB cable; try adb kill-server |
| Offline (Wi-Fi) | adb can't reach the device over Wi-Fi | Check network connection; try adb kill-server |
To remove a USB device from the list: unplug the cable or disable USB debugging. To remove a Wi-Fi device from the list: disable Wireless Debugging in Developer Options.
EmuHub fetches the device model and Android version via adb shell getprop and caches the result in-session — no repeated queries on each auto-refresh.
EmuHub auto-detects the SDK at ~/Library/Android/sdk. If you installed Android Studio elsewhere:
- Open the menu → Settings
- Under Android SDK, enter the full path to your SDK root
- Click Auto-detect to let EmuHub find it automatically
The SDK root must contain platform-tools/adb and emulator/emulator.
Customize startup behavior via Settings → Emulator → Extra Launch Arguments:
| Flag | Effect |
|---|---|
-no-snapshot-load |
Always cold-boot (ignore saved state) |
-gpu host |
Use the Mac's GPU for rendering |
-no-audio |
Disable audio output |
-wipe-data |
Factory-reset the AVD on launch |
-no-snapshot-save |
Don't save state on shutdown |
Separate multiple flags with spaces.
- Swift 6 · SwiftUI
- macOS MenuBarExtra API (window style)
- Android adb and Emulator CLI tools
git clone https://github.com/mchigangawa/EmuHub.git
cd EmuHub
open EmuHub.xcodeprojBuild and run the EmuHub scheme. Requires Xcode 15+ and macOS 14+.
EmuHub/
├── EmuHubApp.swift # Entry point — MenuBarExtra + Settings scenes
├── AppState.swift # Central ObservableObject — state, refresh, device enrichment
├── Models/
│ ├── AVD.swift # Android Virtual Device model
│ └── RunningDevice.swift # Connected device model (emulator or physical)
├── Services/
│ ├── AdbService.swift # adb device listing, stop, property queries
│ ├── ADBParser.swift # adb output parser, serial normalizer, deduplicator
│ ├── EmulatorService.swift# AVD listing and launch
│ ├── AndroidToolchain.swift # SDK path resolution
│ ├── Shell.swift # Async process execution
│ └── ReleaseUpdateService.swift # GitHub Releases API
└── UI/
├── MenuBarRootView.swift # Main popover — navigation, home, device cards
├── SettingsView.swift # Preferences
├── AboutView.swift # About page
├── HelpView.swift # FAQ / Help
└── CheckForUpdatesPageView.swift # Software update
See CHANGELOG.md for what's been released. Planned features include:
- ADB port forwarding management panel
- Device log (logcat) viewer
- Clipboard sync between Mac and Android device
- Homebrew cask installation
Suggestions and contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
MIT © Munyaradzi Chigangawa — see LICENSE for details.