On Windows you have a couple of options to accelerate the Emulator. Read more here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/get-started/installation/android-emulator/hardware-acceleration?pivots=windows
Using HyperV: Make sure to install the Windows Hypervisor Platform:
- Right click on the Windows button and select ‘Apps and Features’.
- Select Programs and Features on the right under related settings.
- Select Turn Windows Features on or off.
- Select Hyper-V and click OK.
You probably need to restart your computer after.
Intel HAXM: If you are not using HyperV and don't intend and don't run other hypervisors such as VMWare, VirtualBox etc. then you can install Intel HAXM.
In the Android SDK manager, in tools, download Intel HAXM. After that is done, go to the folder where the Android SDK is installed. There should be an extras folder where there will be an installer for Intel HAXM.
On macOS, Intel HAXM is the way to go. Read how to install it here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/get-started/installation/android-emulator/hardware-acceleration?pivots=macos
Should be as easy as running sh ~/Library/Developer/Xamarin/android-sdk-macosx/extras/intel/Hardware_Accelerated_Execution_Manager/silent_install.sh
from a command-line.
Either of these approaches should significantly speed up the Android Emulator.
If you have issues deloying to the emulator, sometimes the default configurations have very limited space and installing anything may fail due to the emulator running out of storage. Go to the Android AVD and increase the internal storage size.
For other failures, check the Deploy Output window in Visual Studio and provide more information of what is going wrong. Otherwise it is just a guess.