Which phones work for a farm

You do not need flagships to build a farm. What matters for Lusiesta Studio is different: the phone has to hold a USB connection reliably, run current versions of the social apps and not shut down under load. Below are the minimum requirements, the models that have been road-tested and the things to look at when you buy.

Minimum requirements

• Android 10 or newer. On older firmware, current builds of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are unstable. You can check the version under Settings -> About phone -> Android version.
• A working USB port with data transfer. Everything is controlled over the cable through ADB. The app has no other way to connect: not over Wi-Fi, not over the network, not through a server.
• Free storage. Social apps are installed on the phone, along with their clones when you need them, and a video file is pushed to the gallery before every publication. A device with nearly full storage will choke during installs.
• No root. Superuser rights are not needed anywhere: the Siesta input agent is installed as a regular APK, and the computer grants its permissions over ADB.

There is a single requirement for the computer: Windows. The Lusiesta Studio client ships for Windows only, there are no macOS or Linux builds.

Models we have run farms on

• Xiaomi Redmi 9A;
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 and Note 11;
• Samsung Galaxy S9;
• Samsung Galaxy S10.

These are inexpensive handsets with a good balance of price and reliability. The list is not exhaustive: other models with similar specs will do just as well. The point of the list is different - it is a starting point if you are assembling your first batch and would rather not experiment.

What matters more than specs

• The condition of the USB port. A loose port on a used phone is the number one reason a device drops out in the middle of a task. Half of all connection problems are cured by the connector and the cable rather than by software, and there is a separate article about that: USB cables: why you should not cut corners.
• Battery and power. The phone runs with the screen on and a constant video stream to the PC. A tired battery sags fast in that mode, and a power dip knocks the device off the list.
• A uniform batch. Automation scenarios work with what is visible on the screen. Identical models on identical firmware behave far more predictably than a zoo of ten different handsets.
• Firmware without aggressive power saving. The more eagerly a skin unloads apps from memory, the more settings you will have to turn off before you start.

Firmware specifics

Formally any Android will do, but the preparation differs:

• Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO (MIUI and HyperOS). Turning on USB debugging is not enough: you also need "Install via USB" and "USB debugging (Security settings)", and both require a Mi account sign-in and an inserted SIM card. The details are in Developer mode and USB debugging.
• OPPO, Realme, Vivo, Xiaomi. These firmwares guard accessibility services closely: sometimes you have to grant the Siesta agent access by hand on the phone itself. The app says so plainly in the task message and asks you to open Siesta and tap "Enable manually".
• Samsung. Samsung devices need the second streaming mode (it is called "APK" in the settings) more often than others, because the hardware H.264 encoder fails on some models. The app can switch on its own in "Auto" mode and remembers the engine that works for each device.

Why real phones and not emulators

Lusiesta Studio is built for real phones connected over USB, and nothing else. There is no support for emulators, cloud devices or remote access in the app - this is not a stance that "emulators are bad", it is a factual limitation of the product: the device list comes from ADB, and the picture is captured from the phone screen.

A separate word about expectations: no tool can promise that accounts will never be restricted. Platform rules change, and the outcome depends on your content, your proxies, your pace and the social network itself. The app gives you farm control and repeatable scenarios, not guarantees.

How many devices to start with

5-10 phones are enough to start. That is plenty to road-test warmup and publishing, work out the economics and still keep management under control. After that, scale is arithmetic: you add handsets in batches.

Keep the device limit of your plan in mind. Phones above the limit do not run tasks (a task fails immediately with "Plan limit exceeded"), and their tiles are hidden in the grid behind a tile that offers to extend your subscription. How the limit is counted is explained in Plans and the device limit.

What to check when buying used

1. The port: the computer must detect the phone as a data device, not merely charge it.
2. Accounts: the handset must be fully reset and unlinked from the previous owner's account (Google, Mi, Samsung). A locked phone cannot go into a farm.
3. The screen: the picture in the grid is captured from the phone display, so a damaged panel or dead zones will give you a garbage preview right away.
4. The Android version: check it before you buy, since old firmware usually cannot be upgraded to Android 10.
5. Storage: check how much is free after a reset.

Test the phone on the spot: plug it into a computer, enable developer mode and make sure the "Allow USB debugging?" prompt appears at all. Those two minutes save you a day of wrestling with a handset whose port is dead.

Once the phones are picked, move on to setup: developer mode and USB debugging first, then the cable connection and preparing the handset for its first task.