How to Prevent Android Apps from Running on Emulators

Last updated November 21, 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 Prevent Running on Emulators in Android apps.

What are Emulators?

Emulators are virtualized tools used for running software tests on mobile apps inside flexible, software-defined environments. Using emulators enables simulating, modeling, and mimicking mobile application software & hardware behavior, including how apps interact with the mobile Android and other systems. Emulators create an operating environment that looks and functions much like the mobile device model, with many of the capabilities of a real Android device. For example, emulators can mimic incoming phone calls and text messages, location services, various network speeds, device orientation/rotation, and different hardware sensors. QA teams use emulators for testing new mobile features, as well as app performance, while developers use them as a cheap alternative to obtaining real devices for testing.

Why Should Developers Prevent Apps from Running on Emulators?

Emulators are very popular and useful tools for hackers. Hackers use emulators to run mobile apps within their own controlled environment so they can mimic, observe, and study how a mobile app functions and behaves, while the app is running, a knowledge that helps them build more effective attacks and attack methods. For example, hackers can observe how an application app reads/writes to the filesystem, thereby learning if weak encryption is used. Furthermore, hackers can use emulators to perform custom modifications to the Android behavior, such as removing security controls. Using emulators also means hackers are not limited by the computational capabilities of the physical device and can run through their attack vector testing much faster by using multiple instances of the app in parallel.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Prevent Running on Emulators Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent Running on Emulators , you’ll need:

How to Implement Prevent Running on Emulators in Android Apps Using Appdome

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

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

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Running on Emulators feature
        Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Prevent Running on 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 Prevent Running on Emulators.

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Running on Emulators

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent Running on 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 Prevent Running on Emulators feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > Secure Communication section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On Anti-Emulator > Prevent Running on Emulators.
        Note: The checkmark feature Prevent Running on Emulators is enabled by default, as shown below.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Prevent Running on 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.
        Prevent Running on Emulators option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Running on 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 Prevent Running on 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 Running on 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 Prevent Running on EmulatorsPrevent Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

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

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Running on 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 Prevent Running on EmulatorsPrevent Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Prevent Running on 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 Running on Emulators

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

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

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

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

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

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Running on Emulators Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent Running on 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 Preventing Running on 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 Running on Emulators are detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Prevent Running on 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 Android Apps by using Prevent Running on 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 Prevent Running on 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.

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