Looking for technical insights into how App Store install farms actually work under the hood

[Peggie Schmidt]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently researching on mobile app fraud detection and I'm trying to better understand how iOS App Store install farms actually operate from a technical perspective.

I'm not interested in buying installs. I'm trying to understand the underlying architecture so I can model a realistic research.

Some questions I'm curious about:

• Are these farms mostly physical iPhones, cloud devices, or something else?
• How is the install process coordinated across hundreds or thousands of devices?
• Do operators simply automate Apple IDs downloading apps, or is there more involved?
• How do they rotate Apple IDs, IP addresses, regions, and devices?
• Do installs usually come from search, browse, direct links, or a mix?
• What does the backend infrastructure generally look like (device management, task distribution, dashboards, etc.)?
• Are there any public write-ups, talks, or reverse engineering articles that accurately describe how modern App Store install farms operate?

I'm mainly interested in understanding what happens under the hood rather than the business side. Even high-level explanations or links to technical resources would be appreciated.

Thanks!