How it works
Your laptop (adb, Android Studio), browser, CLI or CI │ encrypted connection ▼PocketShare relay ── accounts, rentals, access, metering ▲ │ outbound connection from the host's hub │Host's PocketShare hub (a Raspberry Pi, Linux or Windows computer) │ USB ▼A real Android phone- Hosts own the phones. Each phone is a reset spare plugged into the host’s hub, a computer running PocketShare’s hub software.
- You rent a specific phone: exact model, Android version and build, at the hourly price the host set, with a spending cap. Only one renter uses a phone at a time.
- You connect through PocketShare.
pocketshare connectgives you a local ADB endpoint, so the phone shows up inadb devicesand Android Studio. The browser view streams the screen. All traffic goes through PocketShare’s relay, never straight to the host’s network. - Your access is time-limited. The hub only lets you in under a short lease that renews while your rental is active. If it lapses, the hub cuts access, even if it loses contact with PocketShare.
- You pay for the minutes you use. Billing starts when the phone is connected and usable and stops when you end the rental. See Pricing.
- The phone is wiped after every rental and checked against its starting state. If that can’t be confirmed, the phone stays unavailable, so the next renter never starts on a phone in an unknown state.