Tailscale tunnel
Each device sits behind a bridge on a private Tailscale network. Your browser reaches it through an authenticated tunnel with a short-lived, session-scoped token — no Tailscale client on your side, and no public ADB port anywhere.
How it worksFrom sign-up to a shell
From sign-up to a shell
in under a minute.
DeviceRent is a fleet of real, physical Android devices you can reach over an authenticated tunnel and drive with your local toolchain. No emulators, no managed UIs, no proprietary clients — just adb and the device.
Five steps from cold start to a working shell.
Each step typically takes seconds. The whole flow is designed so you can be debugging on real hardware before your coffee finishes brewing.
- 01
Sign up & verify
≈ 30 seconds
Create an account with email and a password, then verify the email link. Optionally enable TOTP multi-factor authentication from the security page — it takes one QR scan and we'll generate backup codes.
Free tier accounts can browse the fleet immediately. Paid tiers unlock at the moment Stripe confirms the first payment.
- 02
Pick a device
≈ 5 seconds
Browse the live fleet on your dashboard. Each card shows model, Android version, root status, and a heartbeat indicator updated every 5 seconds, so you only see devices that are actually online.
Filter by manufacturer, screen size, or root capability. Reserved-slot tiers see their dedicated unit pinned to the top.
- 03
Reserve a session
≈ 1 second
Click connect. The platform issues a short-lived ADB key bound to your account, joins the device to your private network, and returns the host and port to point your local toolchain at.
Sessions hold the device exclusively for you while active. The billing meter starts the moment the connection is established.
- 04
Use your tools
for as long as you need
Run adb shell, install APKs, attach Android Studio, or drive scrcpy — anything that speaks ADB works, because the device is reached the same way it would be on your desk.
Sub-second latency over Tailscale from our Netherlands (EU) region. Heartbeats keep the session warm; idle protection extends the connection if you step away briefly.
- 05
Stop the session
≈ 1 second
End the session from the dashboard or your CLI. The device is released back to the pool and sanitized for the next renter, and the meter stops to the second. Your minutes are deducted from your wallet at your tier's rate.
On dedicated-slot tiers, your unit stays paired to your account between sessions and state persists.
Or skip the driving
See DeviceyAITell DeviceyAI what to do instead.
Once the session is up you can describe a task in plain English and an agent works through it on the device — reading the screen, tapping, typing, installing your APK — while you watch every step in the mirror. It runs through the same connection you just set up, so it can do exactly what you can do by hand and nothing more.
How your machine reaches the device.
We don't proxy ADB through a custom protocol or wrap it in a web UI. Your local adb client connects to a real device over a private network — the same way it would on your desk, just routed.
adb talks to a normal HTTPS endpoint. The token it carries is scoped to the one device you rented and expires with the rental — which is why there is no ADB port anywhere on the public internet, and nothing to port-forward on your side.Real ADB, your tools
Use the adb client you already have. Android Studio, Appium, Espresso, scrcpy, and CI runners all connect with no DeviceRent-specific code paths.
5-second heartbeats
Devices report status every 5 seconds. Stale units are removed from the fleet immediately so you never reserve hardware that isn't actually online.
Or hand the device to your test suite.
You don't have to sit in an interactive session. On any paid tier you can mint durable API keys that let headless tools drive a rented phone — point Appium, Espresso, or a CI runner at it the same way you'd target any ADB device.
Durable API keys
Mint keys scoped to your account from your automation settings. Each key is shown once, stored only as a hash, and revocable any time.
Appium, Espresso & CI
Drive the device with the framework you already use, over the same authenticated pipe as an interactive session. A key exchanges for a short-lived, device-scoped token, and access ends with the rental — sessions are revoked within seconds of it finishing.
Built for pipelines
Plug a key into CI and run real-device jobs from your pipeline. A job drives a rental you hold, so pair it with a dedicated slot for a stable, persistent target that is always there between runs.
What the pipe does and doesn't carry
- Works: everything that drives a device through ADB — app install, shell, logcat, port forwarding, UiAutomator2, instrumentation runs.
- Not supported:
adb reverse. The connector forwards ports to the phone, not back from it, so frameworks that need the device to reach your host — Detox, for example — won't run. - Not supported yet: Maestro. It doesn't drive devices through the adb server the connector provides, so we don't list it until we have proven it end to end.
- Bandwidth: traffic crosses a Tailscale Funnel, so a large APK push is slower than a phone on your own USB port.
Pay for the minutes you use.
No long-term contracts on the first four tiers. Cancel from your billing page in one click — your remaining minutes stay usable until the end of the billing period.
Wallet credits
Every paid tier refills a monthly credit balance. Sessions deduct credits per minute at your tier's rate; unused credits roll forward within the period.
Tiered pricing
Higher tiers come with bigger credit bundles and a per-minute discount. Switch tiers any time — proration is handled at checkout.
Dedicated slots
On the top tier you reserve a single device exclusively. State persists between sessions — useful for long-running test installations and CI fixtures.
Built so the wrong people can't reach your devices.
Multi-factor auth
Enable TOTP from your security page. Sensitive actions like payment-method changes require a fresh authentication factor.
Account-scoped keys
ADB keys are short-lived and bound to your account and session. Ending a session revokes the key — even if the network is later compromised.
Row-level isolation
Every database read and write is gated by Postgres row-level security tied to your user ID. You cannot see another tenant's sessions or billing records.
Common questions.
- Are these emulators or real devices?
- Real, physical Android phones with sensors that actually report real values — never emulators, and never device-farms-as-emulators. The rack today is six Pixel 7a; other models are roadmap, not inventory, and we say so on the fleet page rather than listing phones you cannot actually rent.
- Do I need a special client?
- No — there's no VPN or app to install on your side. A rented session runs in your browser, dropping you straight into a live ADB shell and screen mirror on the device. To drive it from your own tooling or CI, paid tiers add automation keys (Appium, Espresso). Either way you never join a Tailscale network yourself; the device sits on a private one we manage and reach over an authenticated tunnel.
- What happens to my data after a session?
- On standard tiers, devices are sanitized and returned to the pool between renters, so the next person starts from a clean state rather than yours. On dedicated slots your install state persists between sessions; you're responsible for what you leave on it.
- Where are the devices located?
- Our entire phone fleet is physically hosted in the Netherlands, inside the EU. Sessions and the data you put on a device during them stay within the European Union — GDPR data residency by default, with no transfers to non-EU regions for the rented hardware.
- How is billing measured?
- By the minute, deducted from a monthly credit wallet that refills with your subscription. The free tier has hard usage caps; paid tiers have soft caps with overage rates published on the pricing page.
- Can I cancel any time?
- Yes. Cancel from your billing page and you keep access through the end of the current period. No prorated refunds — your remaining minutes stay usable until the period ends.
- Is this suitable for CI?
- Yes. Any paid tier can mint automation API keys to drive devices headlessly with Appium, Espresso, or your CI runner. You point a job at a rental you are holding, so the device is yours for the whole run. The dedicated-slot tier is purpose-built for it — a stable host and a persistent device that stays paired between jobs, with no rental to start first.
Ready to try it?
Open a free account, connect a device, and run your first ADB command. No card required to start.