How to Detect App Player Emulators & Modding Platforms in Android Apps Using AI

Last updated July 30, 2025 by Appdome

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

What Are App Player Emulators?

App Player Emulators are desktop-based platforms designed to run mobile apps on non-mobile environments, such as Windows or macOS computers. Popular examples include BlueStacks, NoxPlayer, and Memu Play. Unlike traditional Android emulators used by developers for testing, App Players are built for end-users and gamers to simulate an Android experience on PCs.

While convenient, these platforms pose serious risks to mobile apps. App players are frequently abused to bypass in-app restrictions, spoof device characteristics, and gain unfair advantages. For instance:

  • In mobile games, users can exploit keyboard and mouse controls, script automation, or simulate endless devices to cheat or farm rewards.
  • In food ordering and retail apps, attackers can spoof geolocation, user agents, and device integrity checks to gain discounts, free items, or abuse promotions.
  • App players are also used to distribute modded or tampered versions of apps, especially when combined with runtime instrumentation.

These environments operate outside of genuine mobile operating systems, increasing the app’s attack surface and allowing attackers to evade mobile-only security measures. Detecting and blocking unauthorized App Player emulators is essential to ensure fair use, protect transactions, and prevent automated fraud and abuse.

How Appdome Protects Against App Player Emulators?

Appdome’s dynamic Detect App Players plugin for Android identifies unauthorized emulator environments by analyzing system properties and behaviors. The plugin flags non-genuine environments, such as BlueStacks or NoxPlayer, by detecting altered device profiles and suspicious activity. It blocks emulators from running apps, preventing reverse engineering, automation, and scams in retail and food ordering apps. This protection ensures app security and fair usage across platforms.

 

Users can enable both Anti-Emulator Detection and App Player Detection independently in Appdome. When Anti-Emulator Detection is set to In App Defense, the app will automatically terminate if an emulator threat is detected. Simultaneously, users can configure App Player Detection in In App Detection mode, which only logs or alerts on the presence of an app player without terminating the app. Although app players are technically a subset of emulators, Appdome intelligently distinguishes between the two at runtime—ensuring that general emulators are blocked as configured, while app players are still permitted when only detect mode is enabled.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect App Players Plugins:

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

How to Implement Detect App Players in Android Apps Using Appdome

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

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

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

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

      3. When you select the Detect 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 Detect App Players.

        Fusion Set applied Detect App Players

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect 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 Detect 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 > Detect App Players.
        Detect App Players option

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

    After building Detect App Players, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect App Players protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect App Players protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect 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 Detect App Players has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect 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 Detect App Players Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect 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 Detecting App Players Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
Timestamp The exact time the threat event was triggered, recorded in milliseconds since epoch
message Message displayed for the user on event
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
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
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 Detect 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 Detect 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 Detect 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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