---
title: Mobile agents on Android: from Appium automation to a mobile agent client
url: https://www.consultingai.dev/work/android-agents/
original: https://www.consultingai.dev/work/android-agents/
---


# Mobile agents on Android: from Appium automation to a mobile agent client

Environments built to order · by [Shreenivas Sangoram](/) · updated 28 Oct 2026

Short answer

I have put agents on Android phones in several ways: an LLM agent that drives Android apps through Appium, an agent TUI built on mobile-mcp, a prototype that embedded an agent runtime in an Android app, and a signed Android client for a running Hermes agent, installed and working on a real phone. With Piphone on iPhone, this is the second platform for the computer-use environments I build.

Phones are where most people actually use software, and they are a harder target for agents than a browser: small screens, gestures, app sandboxes and permission prompts.

## What I've built

1. 2026An agent TUI on top of mobile-mcp Private
1. May 2026Hermes Agent Mobile: a signed Android client for a running Hermes agent over Tailscale [Public](https://github.com/areu01or00/Hermes-Agent-Mobile-Client)
1. May 2026An agent runtime embedded in an Android app, then a pivot to a thin client Private
1. Oct 2025Android-Use: an LLM agent driving Android apps [Public](https://github.com/areu01or00/Android-Use)
1. 2025An Android agent combining screen vision with Appium, driven by a smolagents code agent Private
1. Mar 2025Agent Smith: Android automation with a smolagents code agent and Appium Private

## What the work taught

- **Keep the agent where it's strong.** The embedded runtime worked, but the better product was a thin client: the agent runs on a server, and the phone app is a careful window onto it.
- **Fix mobile problems in the app, not the server.** Keyboard, scroll and resume bugs belong in the Android shell, so every user gets the fix without patching their agent.
- **Write the failures down.** Each project keeps dated checkpoints of what broke and what was reverted, which is also what makes later environments reproducible.

## What you can buy

Computer-use environments on Android, built to your spec: tasks on real apps, graders that read UI state through the accessibility layer, and limits on side effects. Paired with [Piphone](/work/iphone-computer-use-agent/) for iPhone, the same task can be run on both platforms.

## FAQ

### How do AI agents control Android apps?

Usually through an automation layer such as Appium or a mobile MCP server, which exposes the screen's UI elements and lets the agent tap, type and swipe on them by reference.

### Can you build environments for Android and iPhone?

Yes. I build computer-use tasks and graders on both, using the accessibility layer on each platform so graders check real UI state.

Want this, or something like it?

License it, or have me build an environment in the same style.

Email me →