Device isolation
Also called: account isolation, device separation
Device isolation is the practice of giving each account its own device identity and its own network path, so nothing links the accounts to one another. It covers hardware identifiers, system values, storage, cookies and the exit IP — anything shared across accounts becomes a correlation point.
Isolation is a property of a whole setup, not a feature you switch on. Two accounts are isolated when there is no observable value they share. That means separate hardware identifiers, separate app storage, separate cookies and caches, and separate exit IPs — and it means keeping them separate over time, not just at setup.
The layers, and where each usually breaks
- Hardware — distinct IMEI, MAC, Android ID and build.prop per device. Breaks when images are cloned without regenerating values.
- Storage — separate app data and caches. Breaks when profiles share a device.
- Network — one proxy per device. Breaks when several devices share an IP to save money.
- Behaviour — separate usage patterns. Breaks when every account acts at the same moment in the same way.
The weakest layer sets the level
Isolation does not average out. Perfect hardware separation with a shared IP gives you accounts that are linked by IP. Perfect IPs on a shared device gives you accounts linked by device. The setup is only as isolated as its most-shared component, which is why the cheap shortcut — several phones behind one proxy — undoes the expensive part of the stack.
The behavioural layer is the one most often ignored. Twenty devices with impeccable identities that all post within the same sixty seconds have announced their relationship through timing alone.