You might need a Mac in order to create your own iOS appsSo You Want To Make iPhone Apps? 10 Projects For BeginnersSo You Want To Make iPhone Apps? 10 Projects For BeginnersWant to create iPhone and iPad apps? Start by learning the basics of Swift.Read More, but if you’re more of a green alien sort of guy, the Android IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is also available on OS X (among other platformsHow to Get An Android Development Environment Set Up in Fedora LinuxHow to Get An Android Development Environment Set Up in Fedora LinuxRead More).

Android Studio for Mac OS X is downloaded in the form of a disk image (.dmg) file. Once the android-studio-ide.dmg file has been downloaded, locate it in a Finder window and double click on it to open it as shown in Figure 2-2.

If you’re ready to move on from creating iPhone appsSo You Want To Make iPhone Apps? 10 Projects For BeginnersSo You Want To Make iPhone Apps? 10 Projects For BeginnersWant to create iPhone and iPad apps? Start by learning the basics of Swift.Read More, or you’re itching to create the next big thing for Android, installing the IDE is step one of the journey. Or, if we’re moving too fast, why don’t you start with a courseSo, You Want To Develop Android Apps? Here's How To LearnSo, You Want To Develop Android Apps? Here's How To LearnAfter so many years, one would think that the mobile market is now saturated with every app imaginable to man - but that's not the case. There are plenty of niches that still need to...Read More?

Why Bother With Android?

Android Studio for Mac is a popular software development environment (also known as integrated development environment) that enables programmers and engenders from all around the world direct access to the tools for coding, debugging, performance optimizing, version compatibility checking, hardware compatibility checking (various android. Once you've ensured your operating system is compatible with Android Studio 2.1.1, download the appropriate Android Studio distribution file. The Android Studio download page auto-detected that I'm running 64-bit Windows 8.1 and selected android-studio-bundle-1-windows.exe for me to download.

If you’re versed in OS X and iOS development, you might be asking yourself why even bother with Android?

Many iOS developers shy away from Android due to device fragmentation and the need to further patch/re-create apps for different version of the OS — of which there are many. I’m not going to attempt to sell you on which of the two is better, as they both offer numerous benefits for developers, but I will say that for app creators who are looking to make a living from their apps, finding some sort of balance between devices is never a bad idea.

Additionally, you’ll find that the overall experience is far less restrictive with Android. For one, Google Play (Android’s App Store) doesn’t have many of the same restrictions as Apple, nor does it require the $99 annual fee for developers (it’s $25 on Google). Google provides you access to Android’s inner workings (by means of an open source model) which allows you to create things like emulators, boot loaders, and customized docks, icons, start screens — you name it — that just aren’t possible with iOS.

If you’re strictly looking at revenue numbers, Apple’s App Store is still going to be your primary target. While Google Play has 60-percent more annual downloads than the App Store, Apple’s App Store actually accounts for 70-percent more yearly app revenue. That’s not to say you can’t be profitable on Android, or that you should avoid the platform altogether, quite the contrary actually.

While Apps might have higher revenue numbers in the Apple App Store, the download numbers are significantly higher with Google Play, making it an intriguing platform for testing and tuning a free app before launching a premium or freemium version.

Eclipse with ADT or Android Studio?

In days past, you had the ever-confusing choice between a bundled package featuring Eclipse and the ADT (Android Developer Tools) plugin, or the official Android Studio, which was based on the IntelliJ platform – a Java-based IDE.

Luckily, recent iterations have seen the process streamlined a bit with just one release, called Android Studio.

In fact, while the option to use Eclipse still exists, Google is officially recommending you start the migration process to Android Studio as support for ADT is ending. If you need help migrating your projects, this Android Developers Blog post should help you out.

Now, if you’re just looking for the emulators that come bundled with Android Studio, it’s important to note that there are other, more lightweight waysHow to Emulate Android and Run Android Apps on Your PCHow to Emulate Android and Run Android Apps on Your PCIt's actually pretty easy to get Android apps running on your desktop or laptop! Here, we step you through the best methods.Read More to do this on your Windows, OS X, or Linux-based PC without the need for the bulky Android Studio download and install. On a Mac, try BlueStacks, or you can just download and run Android on your Windows PC. If you’re looking for ultra-lightweight Android emulation, try this browser emulator for ChromeHow To Run Android Apps in Chrome on Mac / Linux / WindowsHow To Run Android Apps in Chrome on Mac / Linux / WindowsIt's now possible to run Android apps in the Chrome browser -- it just takes a little bit of work.Read More.

Getting Up and Running with Android Studio

First we must download and install Android Studio, a package that consists of:

Android Studio IDE
Android SDK (software development kit)
Android 5.0 (Lollipop) Platform
Android 5.0 emulator system image with Google APIs

Let’s get started.

Android Studio Osx

Launch the .dmg file, and drag Android Studio into the Applications folder.

Open Android Studio and follow the steps laid out by the setup wizard. Occasionally, you’ll run into an error saying the file is “damaged” or untrustworthy and should be moved to the trash. If this happens, you’ll just need to adjust your security and privacy settings to allow the application to run by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy>General and then selecting Anywhere where it says “Allow apps downloaded from:”

If you need to use Android SDK tools from the command line, you can access them by opening up Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and using the following:

/Users/username/Library/Android/sdk/

Just remember to add your username in place of username.

Adding SDK Packages

The Android SDK (software development kit), which comes with the Android Studio package, does not include everything you need to start developing Android apps. The SDK itself is a utility used to separate your tools, platforms and components into packages by using the Android SDK Manager.

So, as such, we’ll have to add some packages in order to get everything ready for development. Don’t worry, it’s a simple process.

First open the SDK manager under Tools > Configure > SDK Manager.

Note: From here on, to keep this concise, we’re going to assume that if I don’t mention something specifically, it means one of two things:

It’s pre-selected and it’ll install automatically once we’re done.
You don’t need it… at least right now.

Ok, let’s continue. Select the following:

Android SDK Tools
Android SDK Platform-tools
Android SDK Build-tools (highest version)

Open the folder for the highest version of Android in the list (5.1.1 as of this writing) and select:

SDK Platform
ARM EABI v7a System Image

Open the Extras directory and download the following APIs for the Android Support Library:

Android Support Repository
Android Support Library

Open the Extras directory and download the Google Play services package for even more APIs. Add:

Google Repository
Google Play Services

Install the packages

Click I

Download Android Studio For Mac Os