App Inventor provides an Android emulator, which works just like an Android but appears on your computer screen.

So you can test your apps on an emulator and still distribute the app to others, even through the Play Store.

Some schools and after-school programs develop primarily on emulators and provide a few Androids for final testing.

Weatherstar Emulator Software On Your

To use the emulator, you will first need to first install some software on your computer (this is not required for the wifi solution).

Weatherstar Emulator Update The App

Follow the instructions below for your operating system, then come back to this page to move on to starting the emulator Important: If you are updating a previous installation of the App Inventor software, see How to update the App Inventor Software.

You can check whether your computer is running the latest version of the software by visiting the page App Inventor 2 Connection Test.

If you do not want to leave the firewall off permanently, then once things are running, you should configure the firewall to allow through connections to the programs aiStarter and emulator.exe.

There are many different types of virus protection software so we cant describe your exact steps, but if you are presented with a security screen, click Allow or whatever option tells the security software to let App Inventor proceed.

This program is the helper that permits the browser to communicate with the emulator or USB cable.

The aiStarter program was installed when you installed the App Inventor Setup package.

You do not need aiStarter if you are using only the wireless companion.

If you want to use the emulator with App Inventor, you will need to manually launch aiStarter on your computer when you log in.

You can start aiStarter this by clicking the icon on your desktop or using the entry in your start menu.

Youll know that youve successfully launched aiStarter when you see a window like the following.

Then, from App Inventors menu (on the App Inventor cloud-based software at ai2.appinventor.mit.edu ), go to the Connect Menu and click the Emulator option.

You may see update screens like the following as the emulator starts up: The emulator will initially appear with an empty black screen (1).

Wait until the emulator is ready, with a colored screen background (2).

Even after the background appears, you should wait until the emulated phone has finished preparing its SD card: there will be a notice at the top of the phone screen while the card is being prepared.

When connected, the emulator will launch and show the app you have open in App Inventor.

If this is the first time you are using the emulator after installing the App Inventor Setup software, you will see a message asking you to update the emulator.

Follow the directions on the screen to perform the update and reconnect the emulator.

You will need to do this kind of update whenever there is a new version of the App Inventor software.

For problems with aiStarter, or if the Emulator does not connect, go to Connection Help for information about what might be wrong.

Weatherstar Emulator Mac