Mining cryptocurrencies with Android
Is it still possible to mine cryptos with Android? This article addresses this possibility as well as what alternatives exists and profit margins.
Leia em português aqui.
Initial Considerations
There are many android devices aging as time goes, and they are still functional. This is a tutorial to validate the alternative use of those devices for mining cryptocurrencies. It is also intended to be a proof of concept for mining with android devices in general.
Apple and Google have restricted the installation of crypto mining applications from their official stores. Their main argument is that due to mining’s high processing demand it would reduce the battery lifespan.
Android users still can find and install apps outside the Play Store with side loading, but this approach has high risks since its hard to audit the app and guarantee the absence of malicious software. Thus, this article suggests a different approach using a Linux emulator available in the Play Store. This undertaking suggests UserLand with Moto X 2013 or with Oneplus 6T.
Preparing the device
- Install UserLand (available for Android 5.0 or higher).
- For this tutorial it was chosen the debian image, but there are alternatives images.
- After downloading and installing the image it is needed to insert user name and passwords.
- And chose the connection type:
ssh
- Once installed insert the password chosen previously (the Linux terminal hides the password while typing)
- Linux configuration finished
After the Linux install, some packages must be installed before installing the miner itself.
- apt update- To ease the configuration it is possible to access the emulated Linux via reverse ssh from another Linux machine: - apt install openssh-server -y - ssh -R <port>:localhost:22 <user>@<host> - the chosen port must be unused in the remote machine - once set the reverse connection, it is possible to access from the remote machine: ssh <android-user>@localhost -p <port> - This tutorial used the port 40000 and named the user as `android`: - from the android device: ssh -R 40000:localhost:22 ur_user@ur_host_ip - ssh android@localhost -p 40000 - Insert the same password chosen when configuring the emulator.- apt upgrade -y- apt install -y vim git build-essential cmake libhwloc-dev libssl-dev libuv1-dev
Due to the devices limitations, this tutorial suggests the mining of Monero, since it can still perform without GPU alongside the usage of a mining pool, so below follows the XMRig installation steps.
- git clone https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig.git - if git clone fails: - apt install wget unzip - wget https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/archive/refs/heads/master.zip - unzip xmrig-master - mv xmrig-master xmrig- cd xmrig- cmake -Bbuild- make -Cbuild -j$(nproc) #(may take a while)- cp src/config.json build/.- cd build
- edit
config.jsonwith pools url and wallet' address as in user field - choose a pool here
- create a wallet address here or follow this tutorial to create an even safer wallet address:
{// [...]"pools": [{"url": "pool.url.here:3333",//replace 3333 by the port used by the ppol"user": "42x6rdxrdziNL6EiHrx6ry1jGdsxZgKc5REQdFKkSeZ3NmMH2TxYfza2KscZsvj7TWAh2M9iZ2DJGJi5FiDMKkQdEueEZEL"}],// [...]}
- Et voilà. Running a monero miner with XMRig in an Android device.
(this execution used moneroocean pool)* ABOUT XMRig/6.12.2 gcc/8.3.0* LIBS libuv/1.24.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1d hwloc/1.11.12* HUGE PAGES supported* 1GB PAGES unavailable* CPU Qualcomm Krait (1) 32-bit -AESL2:0.0 MB L3:0.0 MB 2C/2T NUMA:1* MEMORY 1.4/1.8 GB (83%)* DONATE 1%* POOL #1 gulf.moneroocean.stream:10128 algo auto* COMMANDS hashrate, pause, resume, results, connection* OPENCL disabled* CUDA disabled[2021-06-03 19:18:43.891] net use pool gulf.moneroocean.stream:10128 18.210.126.40[2021-06-03 19:18:43.898] net new job from gulf.moneroocean.stream:10128 diff 128001 algo rx/0 height 2375306[2021-06-03 19:18:43.899] cpu use argon2 implementation default[2021-06-03 19:18:45.109] randomx init dataset algo rx/0 (2 threads) seed 85170d70e15e4035...[2021-06-03 19:18:45.110] randomx not enough memory for RandomX dataset[2021-06-03 19:18:45.112] randomx failed to allocate RandomX dataset, switching to slow mode (2 ms)[2021-06-03 19:19:03.534] randomx dataset ready (18421 ms)[2021-06-03 19:19:03.536] cpu use profile rx (2 threads) scratchpad 2048 KB[2021-06-03 19:19:03.547] cpu READY threads 2/2 (2) huge pages 0% 0/2 memory 4096 KB (11 ms)[2021-06-03 19:19:26.656] net new job from gulf.moneroocean.stream:10128 diff 128001 algo rx/0 height 2375307[2021-06-03 19:20:10.599] miner speed 10s/60s/15m 0.42 0.40 n/a H/s max 0.53 H/s
Using Linux emulation with slow processing in an old android device to mine cryptos isn’t profitable, even if pooling monero!
It is perfectly possible to mine monero or any other crypto using android. Depending of the device it may even be profitable but definitely not with low-processing old ones.
With UserLand in a Moto X 2013:- Hashrate: 0.42H/s
- Power Consumption: 4.335W
- For this experiment it was used a usb wall charger with de 5.1V and 850mA output (considering the device uses external energy source while mining)
- P = V * I --> P = 5.1 * 0.850
- Electric energy is expensive in Brazil. In São Paulo, when this article was written, with direct conversion: US$ 0.14 KWh.
Result: It is not worth it!
This tutorial was also performed in an Oneplus 6T (oneplus 6010) and returned a very curious and distinct result:
Oneplus’ OxygenOS also has an agressive background app killing behaviour that must be taken into account. The miner was kept alive for nearly 10 minutes.
- Hashrate: 500H/s- Power Consumption: 20.4W - For this experiment it was used a usb wall charger with 5.1V and 4A output (considering the device uses external energy source while mining) - P = V * I --> P = 5.1 * 4
After monitoring the network for 30 minutes no significant data traffic was noticed, so this cost is not considered in the income simulation.
Although successfully mining with a more recent and profitable Android device, one must consider the possible outcomes. During testing with the Oneplus 6T, the device heated considerably, which puts pressure on the durability of the battery and the device itself.
Conclusion
It is perfectly possible to mine using Android devices and depending of the device chosen it is even possible to profit. Yet, one must consider the durability pressure, reducing the lifespan of the battery or other components.
There is also a web mining option (one can be found here) which is performed straight from the browser or other optimized scripts (like this one) which where not considered in this article due to low profit or lack of knowledge about reliability or auditing of it’s installation and mining scripts.
Donation
If you want, you can donate in the address 42x6rdxrdziNL6EiHrx6ry1jGdsxZgKc5REQdFKkSeZ3NmMH2TxYfza2KscZsvj7TWAh2M9iZ2DJGJi5FiDMKkQdEueEZEL. Donations are welcome, be it direct or via mining.
References
Reviewed by Heitor Brandão at 2021–07–14.
