Is Google Play Store supported in avd emulators?

After googling quite a bit I am unable to find the answer to this question. Is google play store officially support in avd emulators.

I know it was once stopped , then I hear that it was brought back after specific version of android. I am using avd android version 4.4.3 (api 19) google app . I dont see a google play store app there. Am I suppose to expect it? Or is there an official apk for google play store that can be installed on the avd officially?

The Google Play Store is now officially preinstalled the Android Emulator. Make sure you are running the latest version of Android Studio 2.4. In the Android Studio AVD Manager choose a virtual device configuration that has the Google Play store icon next to it, and then select one of the system images that have the label "Google Play". See this release note: https://androidstudio.googleblog.com/2017/04/android-studio-24-preview-4-is-now.html

Starting from Android Studio 2.3.2 now you can create an AVD that has Play Store pre-installed on it. Currently, it is supported on the AVD's running

• A device definition of Nexus 5 or 5X phone, or any Android Wear
• A system image since Android 7.0 (API 24)

Official Source

For other emulators, you can try the solution mentioned in this answer.

Easiest way: You should create a new emulator, and before opening it for the first time, follow these easy steps:

1. Locate the directory where the emulator has been created. For example, in Windows go to: C:\Users[user].android\avd[your virtual device folder]

2. Open file config.ini with a text editor like Notepad.

3. Locate PlayStore.enabled key and change its value to true:

   PlayStore.enabled = true

4. Locate image.sysdir.1 entry and change: google_apis => google_apis_playstore. Example:

   image.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis\x86\

   to

   image.sysdir.1 = system-images\android-30\google_apis_playstore\x86\