Android 15 features: Everything you need to know about confirmed and leaked features
The Best Nintendo 3DS Emulators For Android
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
The Nintendo 3DS is an excellent console. It houses some undisputed classics like Mario Kart 7, several Pokemon games, The World Ends With You, Bravely Default, the very underrated Etrian Odyssey series, and much more. As it turns out, it is possible to emulate the handheld on your Android phone. Citra is the top dog here, but you can also find other options in our best emulators for Android list. Every emulator on this list uses Citra in some form or another, so that's your best bet. In fact, if you find another 3DS emulator that doesn't use Citra, we might not recommend it as of this writing. In any case, here are the best Nintendo 3DS emulators for Android.
The best Nintendo 3DS emulators for Android Citra EmulatorPrice: Free
Citra has seen better days. After a Nintendo lawsuit that resulted in a $2.4 million, the developers shut down operations and are starting to shut down their websites, since March 2024. The app will stop receiving support. Luckily, you can still download it, and it continues to be among the best Nintendo 3DS emulators for Android.
It includes a high compatibility rate, support for built-in functions like the camera, and even some settings to improve your graphics. Of course, it also comes with the usual stuff like save states, load states, external controller support, and more. It worked pretty well in our testing, and played any games we threw at it without much issue. There's some quirkiness here and there, but it's nothing to worry about. The only downside is that it doesn't seem to work well with Exynos-powered phones.
There is an unofficial fork of Citra called Citra MMJ (GitHub). It may work better in some cases, and it will likely be supported for longer. It requires a third-party install, and we have a tutorial for installing third-party apps if you need help with it. That said, you can still get the official Citra, at least for now.
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Lemuroid is an all-in-one emulator. It supports dozens of consoles through the Libretro core library, including the Nintendo 3DS. It uses the Citra core, so it's
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Price: Free
RetroArch works a lot like Lemuroid. It uses the Libretro core library to emulate a bunch of different consoles. It also uses the Citra core to emulate the Nintendo 3DS. RetroArch is every bit as powerful as Lemuroid but includes a fully customizable setup. That means the learning curve is much higher with RetroArch than it is with Lemuroid. However, in terms of pure functionality, you'll get about the same performance out of 3DS games either way.
This version is made for devices running Android 8.0 or newer, which should include most of you by now. If you run an older software version, though, you can get the base RetroArch app.
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Price: Free (ad-suppoorted)
33DDSS Emulator is another very popular Nintendo 3DS emulator. It works great and hiccups are rare to come by. It's also offers wide device support, and is available straight from the Google Play Store for free.
While this emulator offers a seamless experience, it is one of the few Nintendo 3DS emulators that has ads. People aren't very fond of this. Furthermore, many are wary of the app's being pretty new and the developer's not being very well known.
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Here's another Citra fork. It will be a good alternative once Citra becomes completely unavailable or outdated. That said, it doesn't seem to offer much compared to Citra just yet. It works pretty well, though, and updates are likely to continue over the following months and years.
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The Most Eagerly Anticipated Emulator For Android Is No More
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
There are loads of great emulators on Android, but arguably the most eagerly anticipated app in this regard was Cassia. This was a translation layer of sorts that would allow Android users to run PC games on their devices, promising greater performance and a more user-friendly approach than some rival apps.
Unfortunately, two of the main developers behind the app have decided to quit work on Cassia, citing a change in their personal circumstances (i.E. University and other personal commitments).
Developer @Mark confirmed that the duo's existing work would be free and open source, adding that they'd continue to work on the "underlying infrastructure" behind the app.
"While all of this work will help achieve the goal of ultimate Cassia, we're personally not going to work on an app that puts everything together as it's far too much extra work to create and maintain with our current obligations," the developer explained.
How to play PC games on Android now?In any event, Cassia wouldn't be the first app that ran PC games on Android. Apps like Mobox and Winlator (seen in the featured image) have all been released in the last year or two, with varying levels of performance and compatibility. Winlator is arguably the most user-friendly app of the lot, and our own hands-on last year revealed a relatively intuitive setup process but limited game compatibility even with older titles. Meanwhile, apps like Mobox seemed to offer much better compatibility and performance but a more involved setup process.
Nevertheless, we hope other developers pick up this baton and bring Cassia to life. We'd love to see a performant and user-friendly way to play PC games on Android.
News of Cassia's shuttering also comes after several Android emulators were shut down in the last year or so. Casualties include the Skyline, Yuzu, and Strato emulators for Switch, Citra for 3DS, and AetherSX2 for PS2.
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Best Android Launchers 2024
The best Android launchers are the ideal tools for personalizing and customizing your Android experience. User choice has long been one of the best things about the Android ecosystem, and launchers ramp that up to 11. They give you the chance to tinker and alter the best Android phones in ways the stock launcher can only dream of.
Some of the best launchers are designed to let you change almost everything about Android, while others are built for a more minimalist experience. But if that's not for you there are even launchers offering a smorgasboard of color that would put painting aisle at the hardware store to shame.
But no matter what you choose, a launcher is the perfect way to give your phone a fresh new look and feel — but without the expense of buying a new handset. It's just a matter of picking one, and we've been testing the best Android launchers to help you pick out the right one for you.
1. Nova Launcher
You can't talk about the best Android launchers without a mention of Nova Launcher. Fast, sleek and highly customizable, Nova Launcher balances extensive appearance and utility customizations with a minimal performance impact, letting you set your home screen just right without slowing down performance.
There are a lot of options to work through, from color themes to icon packs, scrollable docks to app drawer customizations, to folder settings and infinite scrolling. The Nova team is never content to rest on its laurels, continuously adding new features, such as Sesame Shortcuts, animations, and other improvements.
If you want the most powerful features, turn to Nova Launcher Prime, a $4.99 version that offers more than the free download.
Download Nova Launcher: Play Store
2. Niagara Launcher
Niagara is a lean Android launcher designed to place your apps and notifications front and center, while keeping other distractions to a minimum. Notifications are displayed right on your home screen, with spam and persistent notifications automatically filtered out. The app drawer automatically surfaces your favorite apps, while also providing handy alphabetical shortcuts.
That said, Niagara's extreme minimalism means that you shouldn't be expecting any unusual visual frills and options you might expect from most third-party launchers. It is updated frequently and it shows great promise.
Download Niagara Launcher: Play Store
3. Smart Launcher 5
Smart Launcher has long been a favorite for the best Android launcher, with its simple "flower" favorites grid and sorted app folder. The latest version, Smart Launcher 5, adds a ton of features and refinements.
Smart Launcher's flower grid is still available, but it's joined by a number of other well thought-out layouts designed to keep your favorite apps within easy reach of one hand, while smart search and an intelligently sorted and customizable app drawer makes it easy to find whatever you need, whether on your phone or out in the web. Adaptive icons and colors, fully resizable widgets, and more customizations round out the package, making for a great update to a classic launcher.
You'll need to shell out $7 for the Pro version of Smart Launcher to access the many of those extra features, including pop-up widgets and expanded gesture controls.
Download Smart Launcher 5: Play Store
4. AIO Launcher
Where other launchers might offer up decluttering visual customizations, AIO Launcher is all about cramming as much info as possible on your screen in a relatively spartan format.
The app displays your frequently used apps, as well as system information, recently received calls, messages and email, as well as upcoming calendar events and more.
While AIO Launcher is free, in-app purchases unlock other features such as widget support, app icons, and Android notifications in the home screen stream. It's not the friendliest interface out there among the best Android launchers, it's still an interesting choice if information density isn't a turn-off for you.
Download AIO Launcher: Play Store
5. Hyperion Launcher
A Pixel-like launcher from the team behind the popular Substratum theming engine, Hyperion Launcher is an extremely customizable Android launcher app that lets you tweak a vast array of settings.
Besides the standard wallpapers and widgets, users can configure a gamut of settings for themes, folders, transparencies, animations, icon packs and adaptive icons. Hyperion provides a ton of its features for free, but others — like launcher-level font changes and custom gestures — are unlocked with an in-app purchase for the Pro version.
Download Hyperion Launcher: Play Store
6. Action Launcher
Action Launcher Pixel Edition was among the first of the big third party launchers to give itself a Pixel-style makeover, combining its extreme customizability with new interface features and styles introduced with the Pixel Launcher.
Action Launcher includes an adaptive app bar, the pill-shaped Google search bar, and Oreo-style app shortcuts (backward compatible to Android 5). A slide-out app drawer provides users with quick access to an app library and widgets. Special gestures such as "covers" and "shutters" allow for speedy access.
Action Launcher automatically picks out dominant colors in your wallpaper and adjusts the app drawer, folder backgrounds and search box to match.
Download Action Launcher: Play Store
7. Apex Launcher
Apex Launcher lives up to its name as another excellent Android launcher with a good balance of features and performance.
Core features include the ability to customize the home screen grid size, with up to nine screens, as well as a scrollable dock with up to five pages. Infinite scrolling, transition animations, numerous folder styles and multiple app drawer styles add even greater customization.
The paid version of Apex Launcher unlocks more options, such as more drawer options, additional gestures and theme support. That's an $8.99 download.
Download Apex Launcher: Play Store
8. POCO Launcher
Xiaomi's phones, like the new Xiaomi Mi 11, might not be widely available in the US, but you can get a taste of the Poco Launcher through the Google Play Store. The Poco Launcher deviates from Xiaomi's usual design sensibilities, offering an app drawer complete with smart category tabs that automatically sort apps into groups like Communication and Photography.
The launcher offers a customizable screen layout, transition effects, icon pack support, and notification badges. It doesn't offer as many deep customizations as rival launchers, but it does look nice and is designed to be on the streamlined end of things. And recent additions include dark mode support and the ability to lock your phone by tapping the screen.
Xiaomi says that Poco Launcher is compatible with Android 10.
Download Poco Launcher: Play Store
9. Microsoft Launcher
Microsoft rebranded its excellent Arrow Launcher into the Microsoft Launcher, keeping Arrow's compact, context-sensitive app pages and customizable feed, while also working to improve the interplay between your Android phone and Windows PC.
Users can quickly snap photos from the phone and view them on their desktop; they can also open web links from mobile to Edge on PC, or start editing Office 365 documents from their PC and continue on the go with their mobile phone.
All of this is in addition to Microsoft's universal search bar, customizable themes, and configurable gesture controls.
Download Microsoft Launcher: Play Store
How we picked the best Android launchersWe went hands-on with every launcher on this list, which is how we drew the above conclusions on ranking. A launcher is a very personal thing, but we value the ones that give you a lot of functionality, even if the feature set itself is minimal.
In the end, we encourage you to try out different launchers to see which one you like best. You might find the more feature-packed options to be overwhelming, in which case you may want to look at one of the lighter ones.
We've used some of these launchers extensively over the years, which also influenced our ranking here.
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