Virtual Devices¶

Virtual devices are Android devices pre-configured and deployed by Genymotion Desktop. They allow you to deploy and test your own application with the sensors and features provided by Genymotion Desktop. This section explains how to manage and run virtual devices, deploy an application, emulate sensors and features, interact with virtual devices and generate their logs. It also lists the keyboard shortcuts available in virtual devices.

Managing virtual devices¶

Your installed Android virtual devices are displayed in the My installed devices section of the Genymotion Desktop main window:

Genymotion main window

Start a virtual device¶

Double-click on the virtual device, click → Start or right-click on the device and select Start.

Configure a virtual device¶

Click → Edit or right-click on the device and select Edit.
The Edit virtual device window opens:

Virtual device settings

From this window, you can configure the following parameters:

Name: Sets the name of your virtual device.
Display: Change the virtual device display size and density.

Display settings

Predefined: Sets the screen size and density from a predefined list.
Custom: Sets a custom screen size and density. You may experience display or performance issues when using custom screen size and density values.
Start in full-screen mode: Displays the virtual device in full-screen mode, adjusted to your screen size.

System: Set the number CPUs, Android version and memory size.

System settings

Android version: Displays the Android API (version). This setting can only be changed at device creation (see Basic Steps).
Processor(s): Sets the number of processors used by the virtual device. Default value is the recommended one for an optimal use. When defining more processors than default, we advise setting one less than the total amount of processors to leave one dedicated to the host and avoid performance issues.
Memory size: Sets the memory space allocated to the virtual device. The value must be below the memory of your computer and take into account the memory space used by your computer. We advise that you set the values recommended for the real devices (512MB to 2048MB).

Android system options: Show/Hide Android navigation bar and enable virtual keyboard for text input.
Network mode: Set Network mode (NAT or Bridge)

NAT Network mode

Network Address Translation (NAT) is the simplest way of accessing an external network from a virtual device. It does not require any configuration on the host network. For this reason, it is the default networking mode.

Bridge Network mode

In Bridged mode, the virtual device is a full participant in the physical network. It can contact other machines on the network and can be contacted by other machines as if it were a physical computer on the network. But the network needs to have a DHCP server that provides a valid IP address to the virtual device.

You must select the interface on which you want to apply the bridge.

For more information, please refer to the official VirtualBox documentation.

Delete/Clone/Reset a virtual device¶

Click , or right-click the device, and select:

Delete to delete a device
Clone to copy a device
Factory reset to reset a device to factory settings

Interacting with virtual devices¶

This chapter describes features that help you easily interact with your virtual devices.

Multi-touch¶

Touchscreen¶

Genymotion Desktop supports touchscreens: touch and multi-touch can now be performed on your touchscreen, as on a real mobile or tablet device.

With mouse and keyboard¶

If you don't use or have a touchscreen, multi-touch is also simulated with the mouse and keyboard. See Multi-touch shortcuts.

Copy and Paste¶

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

Note

Clipboard sharing can be disabled in Genymotion global settings. See Clipboard sharing.

Drag'n Drop¶

Drag and drop a file to the virtual device display to install or upload it. The behavior of dragged and dropped files is different according to the file type:

File type	Result
.apk files (Android applications)	APK files are installed on the virtual device. If the same application already exists but with another signature, you can decide to override the existing application. For more details, see Deploy an application.
.zip archives (flashable archives)	Zip archives detected as flashable (containing a `/system` folder) are flashed on the device. Flashable archives may damage your virtual device - we recommend making a backup of the device (cloning) before flashing it.
Other (regular files)	Regular files will be uploaded to `/sdcard/Download`. They can be accessed via the Amaze or File Explorer applications provided in the virtual device.

Display tips¶

When navigating within a virtual device, you can at any time change its display:

Full-screen mode: You can switch to full-screen mode by pressing F11. Pressing a second time reverts to the original screen size.

Note

On macOS, you may have to use the key combination ctrl + fn + F11.

Custom size: You can resize the virtual device window by selecting and dragging an edge or a corner of the window.
Fit to content: When the virtual device window is resized, black areas appear on the borders. Double-click in one of those areas to fit the virtual device window size to its content.

Generating logs¶

In some cases, notably for assistance purposes, you may need to generate a log archive, either for a specific virtual device or for all virtual devices. Follow either of the procedures below:

Select Help → Generate logs from the main window (launcher).
Select the path to save the generated archive.
Wait until the archive is generated and click Close.

Generate logs for a single virtual device

Right-click or click on the virtual device in the main window (launcher).
Select Generate logs.
Select the path to save the generated archive.
Wait until the archive is generated and click Close.

Virtual device shortcuts¶

The table below lists all shortcuts that can be used in virtual devices. For shortcuts related to the use of the application, please refer to section Genymotion Desktop shortcuts.

Multi-touch shortcuts¶

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Zoom in		`Ctrl` +
Zoom out		`Ctrl` +
Tilt forth		`Ctrl` +
Tilt back		`Ctrl` +
Rotate clockwise	`Shift` +	`Shift` +
Rotate counterclockwise	`Shift` +	`Shift` +

Display shortcuts¶

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Rotate screen	`Ctrl` + `R`	`Cmd` + `R`
Enable/Disable Pixel Perfect	`Ctrl` + `P`	`Cmd` + `P`
Activate full-screen	`F11`	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `F` or `Ctrl` + `Fn` + `F11`
Show/Hide toolbar	`Ctrl` + `T`	`Cmd` + `T`

Capture shortcuts¶

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Take screenshot	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `S`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `S`
Make screencast	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `V`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `V`
Open screen capture destination folder	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `E`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `E`

Volume shortcuts¶

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Increase volume	`Ctrl` + `+`	`Cmd` + `+`
Decrease volume	`Ctrl` + `-`	`Cmd` + `-`

Action	Windows/Linux	macOS
Back	`Ctrl` + `Backspace`	`Cmd` + `Backspace`
Recent apps	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `O`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `O`
Menu	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `M`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `M`
Home	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `H`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `H`
Power	`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `P`	`Cmd` + `Shift` + `P`