Rent an Android phone online for apps, testing and accounts
You can rent a real Android phone online and use it from your browser: it runs in a datacenter and streams its screen to you, so you can install your app or APK, connect over ADB, sign in to an account and set its GPS location. Each DeviceFarm phone runs Android 10 to 16 on ARM hardware and keeps its own device identity and proxy slot.
Last updated
No credit card required
How Does Renting an Android Phone Online Work?
Renting an Android phone online means paying for a phone that runs in a datacenter and streams its screen to your browser, instead of having one shipped to you. DeviceFarm rents them in 30-day plans of at least 20 phones ($39.99 for 20), with runtime billed per minute while a phone is on. The trial needs no credit card.
When you rent an Android phone online, nothing ships. The phone runs in a datacenter and you open its screen in a browser tab: tap, type, swipe, install apps and move files as you would on a phone in your hand. Stop it tonight, start it tomorrow, and it is exactly as you left it.
A DeviceFarm rental has two parts. The plan, paid upfront for 30 days, sets how many phones you can hold at once: 20 for $39.99, 50 for $49.99, 100 for $59.99, 200 for $99, and so on up to 6,000 for $819. Runtime is billed separately while a phone is switched on: every paid plan includes 60 free minutes a month, shared across your whole account, then $0.012 per minute, never more than $2.10 per phone per day.
A rented phone is its own device, not a shared screen. It keeps a unique IMEI, Android ID and serial for as long as you hold it, takes its own proxy, and runs on ARM hardware rather than an x86 emulator. Delete it, and the next phone you create starts with a different identity.
A plan paid by card renews automatically every month by default: turn that off at checkout, or cancel anytime from Billing and keep access until the end of the period you paid. Upgrading mid-period costs the difference between the two plan prices; a downgrade applies from the next period. Payments are non-refundable, which is why the trial comes first. You pay by card or in crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Solana and most other coins), and questions go straight to support on Telegram at @devicefarmio.
A real Android phone, kept in our datacenter
Each DeviceFarm phone is real Android running on ARM servers in our datacenter. It works like the Android phone you have at home, except you open it in your browser instead of holding it.
Real Android, on ARM servers
A complete Android system, Android 10 to 16, running natively on ARM servers: the same chip architecture as the phone in your pocket. Not an emulator, not an Android VM on a PC.
Used like the phone in your hand
Install apps from the catalog or your own APK, sign in, tap, swipe and type. Apps run on it natively, the way they run on an Android phone.
Kept in our datacenter
It stays on when you close the tab, keeps its own identity and proxy slot, and you control it from your browser on devicefarm.io. It has no SIM card, so no calls or carrier SMS.
Can you rent just one Android phone?
Not on its own. The smallest DeviceFarm plan holds 20 phones for $39.99 a month, which is $2 per phone when you use them all. If you need one device for one afternoon, you would be paying for 19 slots you do not use. The free trial, which needs no card, is the way to check a single phone before you commit. Renting a whole fleet for client or team work? Phone farm rental covers that case. Coming from a gaming cloud phone such as Redfinger or LDCloud? Those comparisons show what you gain with DeviceFarm: a fleet under one plan, a separate identity and proxy slot per phone, and unlimited team seats.
A 20-phone plan fits if you
- run several accounts that each need their own device
- test one build across several Android versions at once
- share phones with teammates, clients or contractors
- need phones for weeks or months, not an afternoon
Look elsewhere if you
- need exactly one phone for a one-off check
- need an iPhone or iPad: DeviceFarm is Android only
- need a carrier SIM to place calls or receive SMS on a real number
- only debug your own app while coding, where a local emulator is free
Renting an Android phone for testing
Testers rent phones for a release cycle instead of buying a drawer of handsets. A practical setup: one phone per Android version you support, your build uploaded once to the team app library and installed on each phone, a proxy in each market you ship to, and ADB on Android 11 to 16 for logcat and file transfer. The Android cloud phone page lists everything a rented phone can do, from APK uploads to GPS.
Between test sessions, stop the phones: runtime stops with them, and the build, test accounts and settings are still there next time. Before the cycle ends, schedule a smaller tier for the next one, or cancel from Billing and let the plan run out. If your tests run as an automated suite on every commit, a public test cloud suits you better; the Android device farm page compares the two models, and the ADB glossary entry covers the commands testers use most.
What is included in an Android phone rental, and what is not?
Included in every plan
- A slot for each phone in your tier, from 20 to 6,000
- Android 10 to 16, with a model catalog per version
- A unique, persistent identity per phone
- A proxy slot per phone: SOCKS5, HTTP or HTTPS
- Browser streaming, with a grid view for up to 24 phones
- APK and XAPK uploads up to 512 MB, ADB on Android 11 to 16, GPS location per phone
- Unlimited team seats, usage per member, and optional per-member phone assignment
- 60 free runtime minutes per month, shared by the account
Billed separately, or not offered
- Runtime beyond the free minutes: $0.012 per minute, capped at $2.10 per phone per day
- Proxies: you bring your own from any provider, and our partners page lists a few
- Built-in automations, the REST API and the Claude connector: the Automation add-on, $99 per month
- No SIM card and no carrier number: each phone gets its IP from its proxy
Every tier is listed on the pricing page. Proxy providers we work with are on the partners page, and choosing a residential proxy for a cloud phone walks through the options.
Built on real hardware, run from your browser
Rent the Android version you need
Choose Android 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16 for each phone, and a model from that version’s catalog. Rent one of each to cover the versions your users run.
Live in under a minute, no shipping
Click create and the phone boots in your browser in under 60 seconds. No shipping, no SIM to activate, no setup call.
Pay runtime only while a phone is on
Your plan holds the phones; minutes are metered separately at $0.012 after the 60 free minutes each paid plan includes per account each month, with a $2.10 daily ceiling per phone. A stopped phone uses no runtime.
30 days at a time, cancel anytime
Each plan covers 30 days. Card plans renew monthly by default; turn that off at checkout or cancel anytime from Billing. There is no deposit, and there are no handsets to ship back or resell when the project ends.
Share rentals with your team
Invite as many teammates as you need at no extra cost, track usage per member, and assign phones to a member so they only see their own.
Pay by card or crypto
Plans are paid by card or in crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Solana and most other coins). Prices are set in US dollars, and the free trial needs no payment at all.
Rented Cloud Phone vs Android Emulator
A free emulator on your own computer is often the first thing people try. It is the right tool for some jobs. Here is where a rented phone behaves differently.
| x86 Android emulator | Rented DeviceFarm phone | |
|---|---|---|
| What runs underneath | Android on an x86 PC or server | Android 10 to 16 on ARM phone hardware in a datacenter |
| Apps with ARM-only code | Depend on a translation layer and may crash or refuse to install | Run on ARM, the architecture they are compiled for |
| Device identity | Generic or cloned values, lost when you wipe the image | Unique IMEI, Android ID and serial per phone, kept until you delete it |
| When your computer is off | The emulator stops with it | The phone keeps running in the datacenter until you stop it |
| Network | Your own connection unless you configure a proxy inside each instance | A SOCKS5, HTTP or HTTPS proxy per phone, set from the dashboard |
| Cost | Free on hardware you already own | $39.99/month for 20 phones, plus runtime after 60 free minutes |
| Best for | Debugging your own app while you write it | Testing on ARM Android, and accounts that need a device of their own |
How to Rent an Android Phone Online in Four Steps
- 1
Start the free trial
Sign up with an email, no card. The trial gives you a phone and a few runtime minutes to check it fits your use.
- 2
Pick a plan
Choose the tier that holds the number of phones you need, from 20 up to 6,000, and pay for 30 days by card or crypto.
- 3
Create your phones
Choose the Android version and model, attach a proxy, and each phone is live in your browser in under 60 seconds.
- 4
Stop, start, resize
Stop phones you are not using so runtime stops, move tiers as your needs change, and delete phones you no longer need.