FARMCreate and control your first PhoneFarm cloud phone
Choose a country and Android version, create your cloud phone, finish proxy setup, and learn the live-control buttons and readiness states.
A PhoneFarm cloud phone gives you an Android screen you can operate from your browser. Apps, account sessions and phone-side activity happen in that phone environment. The dashboard is where you configure it, connect to it and start supported work.
This walkthrough covers creating a phone and reaching a responsive live session. It is also useful when a purchase is complete but you are unsure which setup step remains.
Choose the phone for the work you intend to do
Open Phones and enter the new-phone flow when you need additional capacity. Review Android version, Country, quantity and the purchase summary. The available options are the ones currently offered by the interface; an unavailable Android version is not an option you can unlock by selecting it repeatedly.
Choose the country before buying the proxy. PhoneFarm's setup pairs the phone with a dedicated proxy in that same country. For regional app testing, that gives you a defined environment to inspect. For account operations, it makes the phone and connection assignment easier to keep consistent. The country choice is infrastructure configuration; it does not promise a particular audience for your videos.
Start with one phone if this is your first workflow. You can evaluate the actual app, connection and publishing process before extending the configuration to other accounts. If your requirement involves iOS-specific behavior or physical hardware interaction, first read the physical phone, cloud phone and emulator comparison; this Android setup is a particular route, not every possible kind of device fleet.
Purchase and creation are two separate stages
The paid phone flow creates capacity that you then configure. An existing paid purchase can be waiting for setup even when no working phone is shown yet. Open that purchase's setup rather than buying again.
The setup runway begins with Create phone. Select it once and allow provisioning to complete. During this period you may see Creating phone... or Provisioning.... The dashboard can continue checking progress when an operation takes longer than expected.
If the screen says setup is taking longer than usual, keep the purchase reference and revisit the same setup. Do not use a repeat purchase as a refresh button. A duplicate purchase would represent more capacity, not a retry of the original one. If the original does not resolve, support can investigate the existing purchase.
Configure the dedicated connection
After creation, the proxy step becomes available. PhoneFarm asks for a residential or ISP proxy with one dedicated IP for the phone. You can paste a supported connection line and select Fill fields, or enter Type, Host, Port, Username and Password separately.
Check each field before selecting Verify and bind proxy. A connection line without a protocol is interpreted as HTTP, so a SOCKS5 endpoint should be identified correctly. The setup tests the route from the phone and checks it against the selected country. A successful result changes the action to Proxy verified and enables the ready step.
The full field-by-field procedure is in Check a PhoneFarm phone's network connection. Complete it before troubleshooting TikTok: an app cannot finish login or fetch its feed if the underlying connection is not working.
Open the phone screen
From the ready step, choose Open phone details, or use the live-control panel shown during setup. View fleet returns you to the phone list. Install apps takes you toward the next onboarding step.
The live-control panel has its own connection process. It may prepare a session, initialize control, connect, and then begin receiving the phone's video. Seeing the phone listed as running means the device is running; seeing a moving, responsive screen means your browser session can actually operate it.
Use Connect when offered. If the browser prevents the video from autoplaying, select Play. If you see Wake screen, use it to wake the display. Once the screen is visible, select Home and confirm that Android responds. Open an app or navigate once with Back to confirm that inputs reach the phone.
Learn the controls before doing account work
| Control | What it is for | A useful first check |
|---|---|---|
| Connect | Establish the browser's live session | Wait for a current screen image |
| Reconnect | Re-establish a disconnected or failed live session | Check whether the stream resumes after one attempt |
| Play | Allow video playback when the browser blocks autoplay | Look for a live image after selecting it |
| Wake screen | Wake an asleep phone display | Confirm the display lights up |
| Home | Return to Android's home screen | Check that the screen changes in response |
| Back | Navigate backward in Android or an app | Leave a harmless app screen |
| Recent apps | View Android's recent-app switcher | Identify the currently open application |
| TikTok shortcut | Open TikTok when available on the phone | Confirm the correct app launches |
Treat the remote screen like a phone in your hand. A tap on a confirmation dialog can submit a real action inside the app. Before publishing or changing account settings, check which app and profile are open.
Understand the states you may encounter
Phone created, proxy pending: the phone record exists, but its dedicated internet connection still needs configuration. Continue setup.
Phone ready / proxy verified: the setup connection check succeeded. You can proceed to live control and app installation. This does not sign you into a social account.
Running: the phone is powered and running. This alone does not establish that your browser stream is connected, TikTok is installed, or an account is authenticated.
Connecting / Reconnecting: the live session is being established or restored. Give that transition a chance to finish instead of opening several competing tabs and pressing reconnect in all of them.
Connected / Live: the live-control connection has advanced. Confirm the screen responds to an input; a usable screen is the practical test.
Click Play: the browser needs an explicit playback action. This is a browser playback condition, not a reason to rebuild the phone.
Name and use the phone consistently
Keep a record that connects the phone's visible name or reference with its purpose, country and account. For example, Northline-US-01 might be the phone assigned to one US-market brand account. This is an example naming convention, not a required PhoneFarm format.
As your fleet grows, choose phones by their assignment rather than by their position in the list. A different sort order should not change which account receives a post. The account inventory guide shows how to maintain those relationships.
When the first connection does not work
If no live image appears, note the live-control message, whether Play or Wake screen is offered, and whether a reconnect changes the result. Use the live-control decision tree before restarting or replacing the phone.
If the screen responds but pages inside it fail to load, the browser stream is working and the problem is further along the phone's internet path. Follow network troubleshooting.
Once both screen control and the phone's internet access work, continue to install TikTok and sign in. You now have a usable device environment; connecting the intended account is the next distinct step.