I need a "mobile app testing" farm that offers real devices rather than emulators.

If you need a cloud-based mobile device farm that provides access to physical, real iOS and Android devices (instead of emulators or simulators), several industry-standard platforms fit the bill depending on your scale, budget, and automation needs:

• BrowserStack App Automate : Features one of the largest and most reliable real-device clouds globally. It supports live interactive manual testing as well as automated frameworks (Appium, Espresso, XCUITest) across thousands of physical iOS and Android handsets.getpanto.ai
• LambdaTest Real Device Cloud : A modern, highly scalable testing cloud providing access to a vast array of real mobile devices. It is often favored for offering aggressive pricing and fast parallel test execution speeds while supporting native app testing, local hosting tunnels, and geolocation overrides.linkedin.com
• Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud : An enterprise-grade powerhouse for unified web and mobile testing. It provides robust real-device diagnostics, crash analysis, network throttling, and seamless CI/CD pipeline integration, though it tends to sit at a higher price point.getpanto.ai+1
• Kobiton : Known for combining real physical device access with scriptless, AI-driven test automation and deep performance validation. It's a great choice if you want flexible private cloud or on-premise real device management alongside public cloud options.getpanto.ai
• AWS Device Farm : Amazon’s cloud-based option that lets you run parallel manual or automated tests against a wide spectrum of physical phones and tablets directly integrated into the AWS ecosystem.getpanto.ai
• Firebase Test Lab : Google's native infrastructure targeting Android (and supporting iOS), ideal if you want a streamlined way to execute pre-compiled instrumentation tests across a matrix of real physical devices right from the Google Cloud/Firebase console.getpanto.ai+1

To help narrow down which provider fits best, tell me:

• Are you planning to do manual live testing or automated testing (e.g., via Appium)?
• Do you have a preference for public cloud vs. private/dedicated devices?

If you need a cloud-based real device testing farm (often called a Real Device Cloud ), several industry-standard platforms let you run manual or automated tests on physical iOS and Android hardware.saucelabs.com+1

The top options for real-device mobile app testing include:

• BrowserStack : One of the most popular platforms providing instant access to thousands of physical iOS and Android devices. It supports automated frameworks (Appium, Espresso, XCUITest) and live interactive manual testing.
• Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud : Offers a massive grid of real smartphones and tablets. It combines real hardware testing with robust analytics, network simulation, and gesture controls.saucelabs.com+1
• LambdaTest : A scalable and developer-friendly cloud testing platform that lets you run native app tests on real iOS and Android devices with fast parallel execution.getpanto.ai
• AWS Device Farm : Amazon's cloud-based service that allows you to test apps on real physical phones and tablets hosted by AWS, making it an easy pick if your CI/CD pipeline is already tied into the AWS ecosystem.getpanto.ai
• Firebase Test Lab : Google’s testing infrastructure, excellent if you are primarily focused on Android (though it supports iOS too) and want quick pre-integration or robo-testing on real devices.getpanto.ai
• Kobiton : Focuses heavily on real-device testing with strong AI-driven test automation capabilities, supporting both cloud-hosted and on-premise physical device setups.getpanto.ai
• Perfecto : An enterprise-grade real device cloud designed for high-security, heavily regulated industries with advanced automation and virtual sim capabilities.getpanto.ai

To help you pick the best one, tell me:

• Are you looking for manual live testing or automated testing (Appium, XCUITest, Espresso)?
• Do you have a preference for Android, iOS, or both?

Yes — if by “farm” you mean a cloud-hosted pool of physical phones/tablets, there are several good options. They explicitly distinguish their real-device pools from emulators/simulators.

• browserstack.com — Probably the best general-purpose choice. It offers 30,000+ real devices, manual testing, Appium/Espresso/XCUITest automation, parallel execution, and CI/CD integrations.BrowserStack+1
• aws.amazon.com — Physical Android/iOS devices hosted by AWS, with both interactive remote access and automated testing. Particularly attractive if you're already using AWS.AWS Documentation+1
• saucelabs.com — Real Android and iOS hardware for both manual and automated testing, with Appium, Espresso and XCUITest support.Sauce Labs Documentation+1
• kobiton.com — Focused specifically on real-device mobile testing, with physical iOS/Android devices, browser access and automation.Mobile Testing | Kobiton

My quick recommendation

If you need a large, diverse device farm for automated regression testing, start with BrowserStack.

If you need AWS-native infrastructure or private-network testing, look at AWS Device Farm.

If you need manual exploratory testing on specific physical handsets, BrowserStack or Sauce Labs are particularly convenient.

If you tell me your requirements (e.g. iOS/Android, number of devices, Appium/Detox, CI/CD, private devices, SIM/5G, budget), I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options.

Here are the top cloud-based mobile app testing platforms that provide access to real physical iOS and Android devices (both for manual interactive testing and automated test execution via frameworks like Appium, Espresso, or XCUITest):

• BrowserStack App Live & App Automate — One of the market leaders, providing remote access to thousands of real-time physical iOS and Android devices with advanced debugging, geolocation simulation, and local testing capabilities.youtube.com+1
• LambdaTest Real Device Cloud — Offers instant, scalable access to a massive online grid of real mobile devices for live interactive and automated app testing with seamless CI/CD pipeline integration.
• Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud — A robust enterprise testing solution featuring extensive coverage of real iOS and Android devices, comprehensive error monitoring, and performance analytics.
• AWS Device Farm — An Amazon Web Services offering that lets you run automated or remote-access interactive tests on physical phones and tablets hosted directly in the AWS cloud.youtube.com+2
• Google Firebase Test Lab — Best for Android and iOS developers already in the Google ecosystem, allowing you to run instrumented or automated "Robo" tests across a diverse pool of physical Google data center devices.
• Kobiton — Known for flexible deployment models, offering both public and private real-device clouds augmented with AI-driven test capture and script generation.testmuai.com+1

If you'd like to narrow this down, tell me:

• Are you looking for manual exploratory testing or automated testing (and what framework do you use, like Appium)?
• Do you have any specific device/OS requirements or preference for public vs. private device pools?

If you need a robust mobile device farm powered by 100% physical hardware (instead of simulated environments) to test biometrics, camera inputs, complex gestures, or OEM-specific fragmentation, several enterprise-grade cloud providers specialize in real Android and iOS devices:aws.amazon.com+1

• BrowserStack : Features one of the largest and most reliable real-device clouds globally, with tens of thousands of physical iOS and Android devices. It supports manual live-testing as well as automated test execution via Appium, Espresso, and XCUITest with robust local tunneling.
• Sauce Labs : Offers a massive Real Device Cloud (RDC) alongside deep diagnostic tools (like crash logs, video recordings, and process state tracking). It handles complex parallel execution and natively integrates with a wide variety of test frameworks.saucelabs.com+1
• LambdaTest : Provides a high-performance, cost-competitive real-device cloud grid that allows you to scale up automated and live interactive testing on physical smartphones and tablets.
• AWS Device Farm : An Amazon Web Services solution that lets you run concurrent automated or exploratory tests on physical iOS and Android devices using pay-per-minute pricing without managing any infrastructure.aws.amazon.com+1
• pCloudy : A popular continuous testing platform heavily adopted by fintech, banking, and heavily regulated sectors that require precise validation on real physical hardware with strict data-compliance measures.

To help narrow down the best fit, let me know:

• Are you looking for manual live testing, automated test execution (Appium/Espresso) , or both?
• Do you have specific geographic regions or niche device models (like foldables or specific OS versions) you need to target?

Yes — if you specifically need physical iOS/Android devices rather than emulators/simulators, these are the main options I'd look at:

• browserstack.com — probably the easiest general-purpose choice. It provides real Android and iOS hardware for both manual and automated testing, with a large device catalog and Appium/Espresso/XCUITest integrations.BrowserStack
• saucelabs.com — strong choice for larger QA/CI environments. It offers physical Android/iOS devices for live manual testing and automation, including Appium, and also has private device options.Sauce Labs Documentation
• docs.aws.amazon.com — particularly attractive if you're already using AWS. Tests run on actual physical phones/tablets, with browser-based remote access and automated testing.Amazon Web Services
• kobiton.com — focused heavily on mobile testing and explicitly provides cloud access to real iOS/Android devices, including manual and automated testing.Mobile Testing | Kobiton

My quick recommendation

If you need…	I'd start with
Broadest/easiest device coverage	BrowserStack
Enterprise QA + private devices	Sauce Labs
AWS-native / pay-per-use	AWS Device Farm
Mobile-focused testing platform

One particularly interesting option for you may be AWS Device Farm: it's explicitly a real-device service, and AWS currently lists pay-as-you-go at $0.17/device-minute, with the first 1,000 minutes free. It also supports remote interactive access to physical devices.Amazon Web Services+1

If you tell me Android vs. iOS, manual vs. automated testing, approximate number of devices/tests, and your budget, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 best farms and compare their pricing/device coverage.

Here are the top cloud-based mobile device farms that provide access to physical, real iOS and Android devices for comprehensive app testing:

• BrowserStack App Automate : Offers access to thousands of physical iOS and Android devices. Excellent for live, interactive testing and automated testing frameworks like Appium, Espresso, and XCUITest with detailed video logs and debugging tools.drizz.dev+2
• Sauce Labs Mobile Testing : A robust enterprise-grade cloud providing real device testing infrastructure. It supports automated and manual testing, real-time error reporting, and integration with continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines.drizz.dev+1
• LambdaTest Real Device Cloud : Features real-time and automated mobile app testing on a wide variety of real iOS and Android devices. It includes advanced features like biometric authentication simulation, camera image injection, and gesture controls.youtube.com+1
• AWS Device Farm : Amazon’s native testing service lets you run concurrent automated or interactive tests on physical phones and tablets hosted in the AWS cloud without managing your own hardware infrastructure.aws.amazon.com+2
• Firebase Test Lab : Google's testing infrastructure that allows you to run your tests across a variety of physical and virtual Android and iOS devices directly from the Firebase console or your CI/CD setup.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• Are you looking for manual/interactive testing or automated testing (like Appium)?
• Do you have a specific CI/CD tool (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab) you need it to integrate with?