How to Detect Emulators in Android Apps Using AI

Last updated February 9, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Android Emulators in Android apps.

What are Android Emulators?

An Android Emulator is a virtual device that mimics the functionality of a physical Android device, often used by developers for testing. However, attackers exploit emulators to bypass security measures, automate fraudulent activities, and manipulate mobile apps without restrictions. For example, they can spoof GPS locations, bypass two-factor authentication (2FA), and automate large-scale account creation or fraudulent transactions. Tools like Genymotion or NoxPlayer are commonly abused for these purposes. As AI-based agents evolve, they can automate more complex attacks via emulators, making it harder to distinguish between real and emulated user actions, complicating defenses for mobile businesses and networks.

How Appdome Protects Against Android Emulators?

Appdome’s dynamic Detect Android Emulator plugin for Android defends against emulator-based threats, where attackers Android emulators like Genymotion, NoxPlayer, Bluestacks, and Android Studio’s built-in emulator to simulate devices, bypass security controls, and manipulate app environments. The plugin continuously monitors the runtime environment to detect emulator usage by identifying anomalies such as emulator-specific hardware properties, virtual device signatures, altered system settings, and other indicators of virtualized environments. It triggers appropriate responses like closing the app to mitigate the threat. Integrated seamlessly, it provides automatic, comprehensive protection without requiring developer effort. Mobile developers can use Appdome’s Threat-Events™ to gather data on emulator detection events and customize user responses accordingly.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect Android Emulators Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Android Emulators , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Android Emulators in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect Android Emulators without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Detect Android Emulators is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Detect Android Emulators.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Android Emulators feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Detect Android Emulators

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Android Emulators feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect Android Emulators feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you enable Anti-Emulator you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Android Emulators.

        Fusion Set applied Detect Android Emulators

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Android Emulators protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Detect Android Emulators feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > ONEShield™ section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On Anti-Emulator > Detect Android Emulators.
        Note: The checkmark feature Detect Android Emulators is enabled by default, as shown below.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Detect Android Emulators as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR.
        Detect Android Emulators option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Android Emulators

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Detect Android Emulators:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Android Emulators.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects that an Android app is running on an emulator and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ to Detect Android EmulatorsDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Android Emulators (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Android EmulatorsDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Detect Android Emulators:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Android Emulators

        4. Detect Android Emulators Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Detect Android Emulators is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Detect Android Emulators protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Android Emulators feature in Android Apps

    After building Detect Android Emulators, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect Android Emulators protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect Android Emulators protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect Android Emulators shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Detect Android Emulators has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Android Emulators and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Android Emulators Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Android Emulators are detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Android Emulators in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Android Emulators shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Android Emulators are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Android Emulators Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Android Emulators
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Android Emulators Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME EmulatorFound
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6801
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
messageMessage displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforceTimed enforcement against the identified threat
externalIDThe external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersionOS version of the current device
deviceModelCurrent device model
deviceManufacturerThe manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppTokenThe task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfoInfo about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmnPLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceIDCurrent device ID
reasonCodeReason code of the occurred event
buildDateAppdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatformOS name of the current device
carrierNameCarrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersionIs the OS version up to date
deviceBrandBrand of the device
deviceBoardBoard of the device
buildUserBuild user
buildHostBuild host
sdkVersionSdk version
timeZoneTime zone
deviceFaceDownIs the device face down
locationLongLocation longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLatLocation latitude conditioned by location permission
locationStateLocation state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsidWifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatusWifi SSID permission status
threatCodeThe last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.
dataName of the event, e.g., EMULATOR_DETECTED

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Android Emulators are detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Android Emulators:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Apps by using Detect Android Emulators. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Detect Android Emulators

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

Want a Demo?

Mobile RASP Security

GilWe're here to help
We'll get back to you in 24 hours to schedule your demo.

Search Appdome Solutions

Search
Ai Driven Attacks With Tampering Blog

AI-Driven Scams and Fraud

As AI-driven attacks become more sophisticated and common, developers and organizations must keep up. With AI agents, liveness and voice recognition checks no longer matter. That means app makers…