![]() ![]() Others focus on Automagic, which lets users automate a series of commands or actions on an Android phone. Some use an app called FRep, or Finger Replayer, to loop a virtual finger's movement across the phone's screen and trick the app. Inside those invite-only chat rooms, members discussed grey market ways to automate their devices to generate money with no interaction at all, which in many cases violate the app's terms of use. E Media gave Motherboard access to a usually closed-off section of his phone farming-focused Discord server. While their app thinks they're paying attention to the adverts, "in reality they are actually off sleeping haha," Goat_City said. ![]() Some farmers go beyond just running multiple phones at once though, and also use software to simulate clicks and finger movements on their phones. Some farmers can use more powerful phones to run two apps simultaneously. One farmer said they do sometimes virtualize phones on their PC, but due to how resource intensive that can be on the computer, it works out as more cost effective to have a selection of cheap phones instead. ![]() It's sometimes possible to get phones cheaper, at around $10 each, and farmers trade tips on what sort of phones will be most cost-effective. The boxes had been opened, but the phones were in working order. "But of course the money is what brings people in," he added.įor Motherboard's phone farm, we bought used devices off eBay: four TracFone ZTE Android phones for $24.99 each. "Understanding the interworking of the software and exactly how everyone is making money with all the apps intrigues me," Cole H said. One farmer called ElSucio said they've learned about computer networking through farming. Rather than actually watch ads, these phone farmers use as many as a hundred phones and sometimes automate the process to make it seem like someone is watching the ads in order to generate income.įor many of the phone farmers Motherboard spoke to, building up their farm is also a hobby, not solely about generating cash. The phone farmers Motherboard talked to aren't responsible for many of those ad requests, but they still take advantage of this ecosystem. Roy Rosenfeld, Head of DoubleVerify's Fraud Lab, a company which focuses on ad fraud, said DoubleVerify estimates in total these incentivized traffic "apps generate 100-300 ad requests a month," with the vast majority working with video. Other apps like Perk give viewers points for watching trailers and shows which can be exchanged for more valuable goods. Last year, NBCUniversal launched an app called WatchBack, which gives users a chance to win $100 in exchange for watching TV shows, in hopes of creating new fans for its programming. This can be perfectly legitimate business: there's nothing wrong with someone deciding to be compensated for their attention by watching an advertisement or movie trailer in an app and getting some pocket change in return. With a marketing strategy called "incentivized traffic," app developers take advertisements or other content that companies want to get in front of an attentive audience, and pay that audience to watch or interact with them. But an ecosystem of websites and apps flip that idea on its head. You can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on or email you don't get paid for watching or reading an advertisement on the internet. “Phone farming just sucked me in,” one farmer, who goes by the handle Goat_City and runs about 100 phones in Virginia, told Motherboard in an online chat.ĭo you run or work in a phone farm? Or know someone who does? We'd love to hear from you. Motherboard spoke to eight people who run farms of various sizes, most of whom are located in the U.S. Every few months, a video of these Chinese farms goes viral, but in bedroom cupboards, stacks in corners of living rooms, or custom setups in their garage, American phone farmers are doing a similar thing, albeit on a smaller scale. The farms are similar to those found overseas, often in China, where rows and rows of phones click and scroll through social media or other apps to simulate the engagement of a real human. have been doing the same, buying dozens or hundreds of phones to generate revenue so they can afford some extra household goods, cover a bill, buy a case of beer, or earn more income without driving for Uber or delivering for Grubhub. Hobbyists and those looking to make a bit of money across the U.S. ![]()
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