Emulated Sensors and Features

The widgets visibility in the right toolbar will vary depending on the virtual device display window size and your screen resolution. To display all the available widgets, click the top of the tool bar.

To simulate various behaviors of your application according to specific use cases, Genymotion Desktop provides easy-to-use widgets which emulate the following sensors and features:

• Capture
• Battery
• GPS
• Media injection
• Device Link
• Android Controls
• Identifiers
• Disk I/O
• Network
• Baseband
• Phone
• Open GApps
• Advanced developer tools
• Biometrics
• Gamepad
• PS5 Gamepad on Windows
• Motion Sensors
• With a linked physical device
• Settings
• Information
• Toolbar
• Shortcuts
• Device link
• Licenses
• Other controls
• Sound Control
• Rotate Screen
• Pixel Perfect
• Navigation
• Power

Capture

• The Capture widget allows you to take a screenshot or screencast of virtual devices. This way, you can share images or videos of your applications.
• To open the capture window, click the capture icon. Then, select an action:
• Screenshot: take a screenshot.
• Screencast: record a screencast. Click the capture icon again to stop.
• Browse file: browse the recorded screenshots and/or screencasts folder.
• The default folder can be changed in Genymotion > Settings > Device.

Battery

• The Battery widget allows you to test how your application reacts with different battery charge levels and states of charge.
• Click the battery icon to open the widget.
• You can edit the charge level using the slider, or enter a value in the Charge level input field.
• You can toggle the state of charge with the State of charge switch.

GPS

• The GPS widget provides positioning data for the virtual device.
• You can set a single position or simulate routes from a track file.
• The built-in map can be used to define a location.

Single position

• To use the GPS widget and set a single position:
• Toggle the Activate GPS emulation switch.
• Set the following values:
• Latitude: The latitude value to simulate.
• Longitude: The longitude value to simulate.
• Altitude: The altitude value to simulate.
• Speed: A speed in meters per second.
• Accuracy: The accuracy in meters.
• Bearing: The bearing in degrees.
• You can also define a location using the built-in map.
• Note: Some devices rely on accelerometer or gyroscope for bearing, which is not emulated yet. You can use the device link feature to use a real device with accelerometer and/or gyroscope.

Simulate routes

• It is possible to simulate routes by uploading a track file.
• Requirements & Limitations:
• This feature only supports GPX and KML trace formats for now.
• GPX files must have at least one point with latitude and longitude data.
• If elevation is missing, it defaults to 0.
• If timestamp is missing from a data point, it defaults to the previous data point timestamp plus 1 second.
• If the data points are not in chronological order, they will be sorted before being played.
• If the trace file contains more than one track, only the first track will be played.
• Examples of valid GPX and KML track files are provided.
• Usage:

1. Generate a GPX or KML track file with a suitable application, such as Google Earth.

2. If GPS emulation is not already enabled, toggle Activate GPS emulation on.

3. Toggle Replay a GPS trace on.

4. Open to upload your trace file.

5. Click to start or pause the route simulation.

6. Change play speed by selecting a replay speed in the drop-down menu.

• A note indicates the minimum required version for the feature (minimal version 3.3.0; license paid).

Camera and Media Injection

• With this widget, you can select your host webcams, microphones, videos, images or audio files as the device camera and audio input source.
• To open the widget window, click the camera icon.

Host physical camera

• Your host physical camera devices are listed in the Cameras box.
• You can assign them to the virtual device front and/or back cameras in the Video section.

Media inputs

• You can use image, video and audio files as audio and/or video inputs for the device.
• Genymotion Desktop does not include codecs: most media files should work out of the box on Linux and macOS, but you may need to install codec packs on Windows (for example, K-Lite Codec Pack Full).
• In the Media files box, click OPEN MEDIA FOLDER.
• Copy your media files to the opened folder. The files you added should appear in the Media files box.
• Media folder: Genymotion Desktop media folder paths are listed for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• When you are ready, you can:
• click to play your media files,
• select an audio file as Microphone input,
• select a video or image file as front and/or back Camera input,
• resize the video or image. Available resize profiles are Crop, Keep aspect, and Resize.

Android Controls

• The Android Controls widget lets you emulate the following controls:
• Directional pad
• Volume
• Calls
• Media controls
• To open the widget, click the Android Controls icon.

Identifiers

• The Identifiers widget shows Android ID and Device ID/IMEI/MEID values.
• You can view and edit these values at any time, without rebooting the virtual device.
• To open the identifiers window, click the Identifiers icon and enter a value for each identifier or click to generate random values.
• Android ID values must not be empty.
• Device ID/IMEI/MEID values must be 14 digits or hexadecimal digits plus a checksum.
• Valid characters for these values are a–z, A–Z, 0–9, dots, dashes and underscores.
• Note: On Android 8.0 and above, the Android ID has a different value for each application on the device. In Genymotion, the Android ID remains the same for all applications.
• By default, a new virtual device is deployed with the Device ID number 0000000000000000.

Disk I/O

• The Disk I/O widget allows you to emulate devices with slow internal storage.
• It can be handy for apps that read large amounts of data from disk.
• To simulate high or low disk performance:
• Enable disk I/O emulation.
• From the Profile drop-down, select a device type:
• Read speed limit High-end device: 200 MiB per second.
• Read speed limit Mid-range device: 100 MiB per second.
• Read speed limit Low-end device: 50 MiB per second.
• Custom device: Enter the read speed limit in MiB.
• Switching between device profiles clears the disk cache automatically. You can clear the cache manually by clicking Clear.

Network

• The Network widget allows you to test your application with different network interfaces, network types and signal strength.
• Wifi
• When Wifi is enabled, your applications behave as if you are connected to a Wifi network.
• Wifi is the default interface.
• Mobile data
• Mobile data is simulated; the baseband (SIM data connection) is not emulated, and it is not possible to send or receive calls and texts to other mobile devices from Genymotion.
• To use this feature:
• Disable Wifi
• Enable Mobile data
• Select a Network type from the drop-down list
• Adjust parameters: Download speed, Upload speed, Download/Upload delay, and Download/Upload packet loss
• Disable all network
• Simply disable Wifi and Mobile data to disable network entirely on the device.
• Baseband
• The network operator and SIM operator (Baseband) are only emulated and it is not possible to send or receive calls to other mobiles devices from Genymotion.
• Virtual devices do not have a phone number.
• Phone
• The Phone widget allows you to test applications relying on telephony features and observe their behavior when receiving a call or a text message.
• To use the Phone widget, click the phone icon and enter a fictitious incoming phone number and:
• Click Call to simulate an incoming phone call.
• Enter a text message and click Send message to simulate an incoming text message.
• Text messages are displayed in the virtual device via a notification, but they can also be read in the Messaging application.
• Open GApps
• For legal reasons, Google Play Store and Services are not pre-installed; you need to use this widget to install them.
• The Open GApps widget allows you to install a minimum package of Google Play Services, also containing an application store.
• You accept terms and proceed to download and flash the package; a reboot may be required.
• If the device is not compatible with the version, refer to installation failure for details and possible solutions.
• Advanced developer tools
• The Advanced developer tools widget provides quick access to the most common Android developer tools, including:
• Root Access
• Show taps
• Show pointer location
• Show layout bounds
• Enable animation
• Force desktop mode
• Note: The Force desktop mode tool may require a reboot to activate and is only available with multiple displays.
• Biometrics
• Biometrics is available for Android 13 and higher for the moment.
• The Biometrics widget lets you simulate fingerprint recognition.
• To use it, open the widget window and interact with the simulated fingerprint scenarios (Recognized, Unrecognized, Dirty, Partial, Insufficient, Too fast).
• You can enable automatic biometric authentication to respond automatically to a Recognized event.
• Important: One fingerprint must be configured in Android Settings before using this widget.
• Gamepad
• The Gamepad widget allows you to use a gamepad connected to your computer on Android 12.0 and higher.
• If one or more gamepads are detected, their name will appear in the device box.
• You can toggle inputs on or off and select which Gamepad to preview if more than one is connected.
• PS5 gamepad on Windows is not yet recognized by Genymotion, but there are tools to map it to an Xbox 360 controller.
• Motion Sensors
• The Motion Sensors widget allows you to simulate Android motion sensors.
• To open the widget, click the motion sensors icon.
• You can simulate yaw, pitch and roll values, and the device rotation, using sliders or a device rotation field.
• You can rotate the emulator window in accordance with the motion sensor values.
• The device position can be controlled by dragging the 3D model with the mouse.
• The accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer values are displayed below the 3D model.
• You can enable emulator window rotation.
• With a linked physical device
• It is possible to connect an Android physical device to the emulator.
• To use this feature, open Setup device link and follow the detailed instructions.
• When linked, the virtual device will appear on your physical device screen and sensor values will be synchronized.
• You can calibrate the scene to align the 3D model with your smartphone position in space.
• You can enable or disable the linked device by using the Use my physical device toggle.

Settings

• The Settings area provides access to extra settings and information about Genymotion and the virtual device.
• Information
• Emulator version: Genymotion version.
• Android version: the Android version of the virtual device.
• ADB serial: the ADB serial (local IP and port) of the virtual device.
• Toolbar
• The toolbar allows you to reach and customize the right-side widgets.
• Shortcuts
• Shortcuts lets you customize virtual device shortcuts.
• Device link
• The Device Link feature is described above under Network and Motion sensors.
• Licenses
• Displays licenses of Genymotion open-source components.
• Other controls
• Sound Control
• Rotate Screen
• Pixel Perfect
• Navigation
• The navigation widgets simulate a real device navigation buttons for Recent Screen, Home, Back.
• Power
• The power widget simulates a real device power button.

Note: Some features have notes or limitations indicated directly in their sections, such as required Android versions, device compatibility, or prerequisites (for example, enrolling fingerprints for biometrics, or installing Open GApps).

Simulate routes (section details)

• Simulate routes provides GPX or KML track support (and other route-related features) with versioning and licensing notes.

Camera and Media Injection (section details)

• Host physical camera section explains listing cameras and mapping them to device cameras.
• Media inputs section explains the need for codecs and steps to select media sources and resize options.
• Open media folder path is provided for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Media and device linking

• The Device Link feature allows you to mirror or forward events and sensors between a smartphone and the emulator.
• The Device Link setup includes pairing, enabling event forwarding, and calibrating the scene.

Open GApps and Google Play

• The Open GApps widget provides a minimal Google Play Services package to enable Play Store features in the virtual device.
• Reboots and compatibility checks may be required after installation.

Advanced developer tools

• Root Access is available with non-rooted Android images.
• The Tools provide quick access to common developer features and metrics.
• A reboot may be required to enable certain features, such as Force desktop mode.

Biometrics

• Biometrics feature allows fingerprint recognition simulation on Android 13+.
• The widget shows several fingerprint states and can simulate recognition outcomes.
• One configured fingerprint is required for use.

Gamepad

• The Gamepad widget supports multiple gamepads and shows their status.
• It provides guidance for PS5 Gamepad on Windows due to compatibility limitations.

Motion Sensors

• The Motion Sensors widget shows accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer values while enabling device rotation.
• It also provides a visualization of the device position.

With a linked physical device

• Device linking lets you use a real device as a companion for testing.
• It supports forwarding touch events, mirroring the screen, and forwarding sensors.
• Calibration and synchronization are possible to align the 3D model with the phone’s position.

References and notes

• Some features include notes about compatibility or setup requirements, including Android version constraints and the availability of certain widgets.
• The page includes versioning and licensing hints for some features (e.g., Simulate routes: minimal version 3.3.0; license paid).

[JSON-LD] { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "TechArticle", "headline": "Emulated Sensors and Features - Genymotion Desktop", "description": "Genymotion Desktop emulates sensors and features for Android devices, including GPS, camera, network, and biometrics.", "datePublished": "2026-01-25", "contentFreshness": "assumed-current", "inLanguage": "en", "keywords": ["Genymotion", "GPS", "Camera", "Media injection", "Network", "Biometrics", "Motion sensors", "Device Link"], "about": { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Genymotion Desktop", "applicationCategory": "Desktop virtualization", "description": "A desktop virtualization tool for running Android devices." }, "mainEntity": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Emulated Sensors and Features" }, "geo_quality": { "fluency_applied": true, "issues_fixed": ["vague_referents", "compound_sentences", "missing_definitions"], "rewrite_count": 5 } } [/JSON-LD]