iFarmiPhone automation from your Mac, without code
iFarm automates real iPhones from a Mac by recording what you do once and replaying it. It records taps, swipes, holds, buttons, typed text and pauses, and replays find each button by the text on screen, so the same automation works on other iPhone sizes. It's free, needs no code and no jailbreak.
How iPhone automation from a Mac works in iFarm
An automation in iFarm is a list of plain steps: tap this text, wait 2–5 seconds, swipe up, type this, go Home. You make one by recording, by editing steps, or by describing it to the AI. Then you run it on one phone, a group or all of them, by hand or on a schedule.
iFarm drives each phone through a small helper app (WebDriverAgent, open source) signed with your own Apple developer team. No jailbreak, no Shortcuts tricks and no code on your side.
Record and replay taps on an iPhone
- Open a phone large in iFarm.
- Press Record in the Automations box.
- Use the phone through iFarm's live screen: tap, swipe, hold, press Home or volume, type.
- Press Stop and save. The automation appears under Automations in the sidebar.
- Pick checked phones, a group, all phones or one phone, and press Run.
Why replays work on other iPhone sizes
For each tap, iFarm remembers the text on screen under your finger and where you tapped relative to it. On replay it looks for that text, so the button is found on a smaller or larger iPhone even though its position changed. Steps without text fall back to the position on screen.
On replay, each tap:
- waits up to 8 seconds for its button to appear,
- waits for scrolling to stop,
- picks the copy of the text nearest to where you tapped,
- then checks for a word that appeared after the tap during recording (for example "iOS Version" after tapping About).
A failed check is noted in the run's log instead of derailing the run. In test mode (below) every check must pass.
Recording details that save you trouble
- A recording made on the Home screen starts with Home, so replays start from the same place.
- If an app is open when you press Record, or you open one while recording, iFarm restarts it, so the recording and every replay begin on the same screen. Opening an app is saved as an Open app step, so it works even if the icon sits somewhere else on another phone.
- Pauses longer than 10 seconds are shortened to 10 seconds.
- Only gestures that reached the phone are recorded. If one failed because the phone was busy for a moment, the log says so; just do it again.
Editing steps
Every step can be edited, moved, deleted or added. The step types are:
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tap text | Finds text on screen and taps it |
| Wait | A fixed time or a random range, like 2–5 s |
| Swipe | Swipes on the screen, for example to scroll |
| Wait for text | Waits until a word appears (a check) |
| If text is on screen | Runs the steps inside only when the text is there |
| Repeat | N times, or for N minutes |
| Sometimes (50%) | Runs the steps inside about half the time |
| Open app | Opens an app by name or bundle ID |
| Open link | Opens a web address in a new Safari tab, or an app link |
| Type | Types text into the focused field |
| Home | Goes to the Home screen |
Text settings let one automation serve many uses. Give it settings such as site or search, and use them in steps as $site. They appear in the automation's Settings box, and also work inside links: https://www.google.com/search?q=$search.
Export… saves an automation as a JSON file that someone else can Import. Built-in templates are read-only; Duplicate makes your own copy.
Built-in templates
iFarm ships with templates you can run straight away or duplicate and change, including:
- Web: search and open a site: searches Google in a new Safari tab, scrolls until your site shows up, opens it and scrolls through it. Set search and site in its Settings.
- App Store: install an app: searches the App Store for the app's name, opens its page and taps Get if it's free. If the iPhone asks for Face ID or a password, you confirm on the phone. Paid apps are never bought.
- TikTok: draft from newest media: what drag-and-drop drafts use.
Community templates add automations other people have shared. They're plain steps, never code, and can't run until you've read them and pressed I've read the steps.
Test mode for app testing
Turn on Test mode in an automation's header to use it as a QA test on real iPhones:
- Popups are left to your steps, so you can test permission prompts.
- Nothing tries to recover; a problem shows up as a failure.
- Every "Wait for text" step is a check that must pass.
- Each run writes a pass/fail HTML report with a screenshot of every check, the phone and iOS version, the app's version and build, timing and the full log.
When something gets in the way
Outside test mode, if a popup blocks a step iFarm tries, in order: dismiss a system alert, tap a "Not now / Skip / Close / Cancel" button, go back, go Home and reopen the app, then force-quit and reopen it. If the step still can't be done, the run stops with a screenshot of where it got stuck and the phone is sent Home.
Limits worth knowing
- Recording only sees what you do in iFarm's live view. iOS doesn't let any app see touches made directly on the phone.
- Text matching needs text. Icon-only buttons fall back to screen position, which is less reliable across sizes.
- Replays tap whatever is on screen. Only run them on phones dedicated to the farm, never on a phone someone is using.
- iFarm never types passwords, never buys anything, and by default asks before any step that posts, sends or follows.
Frequently asked questions
Can I automate an iPhone from a Mac without jailbreaking it?
Yes. iFarm uses WebDriverAgent, Apple's UI-testing route, signed with your own Apple developer team. Phones need iOS 16 or later and Developer Mode on.
Do I need to write code?
No. You record what you do, or edit plain steps. Automations can be exported as JSON to share, but you never have to touch the file.
Will a recording made on one iPhone work on another model?
Usually, yes. Taps are matched by the text on screen rather than by position, so buttons are found on other iPhone sizes. Steps without text use the position on screen.
Can the AI build an automation for me?
Yes. Describe the task on a phone's page, turn on Save as automation in the phone's AI box, and let the AI brain do it once. iFarm saves the steps, and every later run replays them without AI, for free.