How to Detect Player Emulators & Modding Platforms in Android Apps

Last updated January 11, 2024 by Appdome

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

What are App Players?

Gamers can use app players such as NoxPlayer, Bluestacks, and MEmuPlayer to play Android mobile games on their windows PC or Apple Mac. App Players are emulators specifically designed to allow mobile games to be played from inside virtualized environments running on laptops or powerful computers, instead of playing the game from the mobile app as it was designed.

Emulators are also used in dynamic analysis, a form of reverse engineering performed for the purpose of simulating, modeling, and mimicking mobile application software & hardware behavior, including how apps interact with the mobile operating system and other systems, which can be used to create mods. In most cases, these actions are conducted for the sole benefit of the individual reverse engineer, hacker, or gamer and not in the interest of the publisher, developer, or legitimate users of the mobile application.

Why Block App Players in Android Apps?

App Players are used for cheating, to give a gamer an unfair advantage over another gamer using a mobile device. App Players create an operating environment that looks and functions much like the mobile device model, with many of the capabilities of a real Android device. But the gamer can use a full-size keyboard, mouse, controller or joystick to give themselves an unfair advantage over other legitimate users who are using the Android phone.

Another reason the developer may want to prevent the use of App Players with the APK is to protect the copyright of the art and graphics used in the mobile app.

Note: When paired with Appdome’s OneShield ‘Prevent Running on Emulators’ feature, the ‘Block App Players’ function fortifies your app with an added layer of detection against both generic emulators and specific app players.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Block App Players Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Block App Players , you’ll need:

How to Implement Block App Players in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Block App Players 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. Block App Players is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Block App Players.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Block App Players feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Block App Players

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Block App Players feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Block App Players feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Block App Players you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Block App Players.

        Fusion Set applied Block App Players

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Block App Players 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 Block App Players feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Cheat Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Block App Players.
        Block App Players option

        Figure 4: Selecting Block App Players

        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. Configure the User Experience Options for Block App Players:
        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 App Players

        4. Block App Players Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Block App Players 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 Block App Players protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Block App Players feature in Android Apps

    After building Block App Players, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Block App Players protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Block App Players protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Block App Players 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 Block App Players has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Block App Players and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

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

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

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for App Players are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Block App Players Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Block App Players
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 x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Blocking App Players Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

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 App Players are detected.


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


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 Android Apps by using Block App Players. 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 Block App Players

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.

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