Mobile Proxies: Myths & Truths

Mobile proxies are an interesting technology, and the interest in them will grow because of their undetectable nature and the increase in mobile web traffic.

Mobile Proxies was Invented for Social Media Account Management

Sitting in the number position is the main reason mobile proxies were created. Social media automation is one of the most popular use cases of proxies. Interestingly, it is the reason mobile proxies were invented in the first place. Before mobile proxies, all we had were residential and datacenter proxies.

Residential proxies were quite popular for social media automation, and it worked just fine until Instagram find a way around detecting them. Aside from Instagram, other mobile social platforms like TikTok followed suit, and then the need to use mobile IP addresses arise.

Using mobile IPs gets services to think you are operating from a mobile device when in reality, you are operating from a PC. Instagram has the most effective proxy detection and blocking system in the market, and they could detect residential proxies. Aside from Instagram and TikTok, you can go ahead and use residential proxies for your social media.

Mobile Proxies Have a Genuine Reason to be Expensive

If you have tried checking out the price of mobile proxies and comparing them with residential and datacenter proxies, you will see that they are quite pricey. While you might have your argument why it shouldn’t be expensive, I beg to differ.

Aside from a few mobile proxy providers that make use of mobile IPs from Peer-to-Peer (P2P), most providers would need to invest in 4G LTE modems. Generally, the barrier of entry for providing high-quality mobile proxies is high.

Aside from the modem, you will need to have a physical presence in all locations you provide mobile IPs for. These all come together to make high-quality mobile proxies expensive.

You Cannot Find Static Mobile Proxies

Just in case you do not know, static IPs are alien to mobile proxies. If you are looking for static IPs, then your best bet is to buy dedicated proxies from a datacenter provider. There are a few residential proxy services that can provide you that.

However, in the case of mobile proxies, the best you can get is sticky mobile proxies that will maintain the same IP for a long time -but the chances of you keeping and using it anytime you want are slim and non-existence.

This is because there is a deficiency in the number of mobile IPs available when compared to the number of mobile devices with support for Internet connection. For this reason, IPs are not statically assigned to devices but dynamically assigned, and as such, you cannot get a statically assigned mobile IP to you by a mobile proxy service.

Mobile Proxies Have High Trust Score

Proxies are not created equal – some enjoy more trust and, as such, would experience fewer blocks than others. For the most part, the trust score is related to the type of IP address – ISP and hosting.

Datacenter IPs (hosting) are easily flagged and blocked. While many IP checker tools would describe mobile IPs as ISP IPs, web platforms can differentiate them from residential IPs.

From our test, mobile proxies enjoy a higher level of success which can be attributed to the way web services and platforms trust them compared to other types of proxies.

They are undetectable and highly anonymous, making them a perfect fit for use on services with an effective anti-proxy system.

Most High-Quality Mobile Proxy Services Have Locational Limitations

One common weakness I see in high-quality mobile proxy services is that the only have support for a few locations. When I say high-quality mobile proxy service, I am not referring to providers like Bright Data (formerly Luminati) and Soax that get their mobile IP addresses via P2P networks and, as such, have mobile IPs from almost all locations across the globe.

I am talking of premium mobile proxy services such as ProxyGuys, TheSocialProxy, and Airproxy, that own the mobile devices they route clients’ requests through. Another difference between these high-quality mobile proxy services is that you will not hear them saying they have got millions of IPs.

Mobile Proxies Can Be Detected Too

One of the marketing hypes around mobile proxies is that they are not detectable. Almost all providers would tell you that mobile proxies are not detected, but in reality, not all mobile proxies are undetectable, and even for the ones that seem undetectable, if you abuse them, your behavior could lead to suspicion and, by so doing, getting detected.

This is common among mobile proxies with IPs from P2P. the best mobile proxies are from the proxy service that owns their infrastructures and control over the IPs they use. Sadly, this does not come at a cheap price when compared to P2P mobile proxies.

Your Mobile is Probably Being used as a Mobile proxy

Do you download and install applications indiscriminately on your smartphone? If you do that, your device might have been compromised by bad proxy services even without your consent. One of the monetization strategies of mobile devices is installing SDKs of proxy services which allow proxy services to use any device that installs the application as a proxy.

In some cases, the application developers state it clearly, as in the case of Hola VPN. In some, you do not get to even know. The bottom line is, your device is probably being used as a proxy without you knowing. If you do not want that to happen, make sure you only install software from reputable sources.

Mobile Proxies are Slow

Marketing hype is a big thing and would paint only the picture it wants you to see. When most mobile proxy providers try to sell you their product, they tend to sell only the good part to you, and if you are not careful, you will miss discovering the weaknesses until you have paid for their proxies. One of the weaknesses of mobile proxies is that they are slow.

It is generally known that proxies used by clients on their system slow down their Internet connection because of the rerouting that occurs. However, some proxies are faster than others, and mobile proxies are the slowest. However, there are some high-quality mobile proxies that meet the speed of residential proxies, but these are only a few in the market.

Mobile Internet-Enabled Devices Are Required for Set up

If there is one thing you ought to know, that one thing is without mobile devices; mobile proxies cannot be developed. At its most basic level, mobile proxies are regular mobile devices that serve as proxy servers that help mask one’s real IP address – all they do is serve as a front.

Mobile proxy services need to make use of mobile devices (4G LTE dongle, smartphone, IoT devices, etc.) either under their control or via P2P in other to provide mobile proxies. In every mobile proxy architecture, there must be a 4G LTE device, 4G LTE sim card, 4G LTE coverage area, and a proxy server.

They Can Be Illegal

In most parts of the world, proxy usage is completely legal- this includes the United States, Canada, Europe, and most developed countries. For the developing countries, a good number of them do not even have a concrete law in place for this.

Unfortunately, there are some countries that frown at the usage of proxies. It does not matter whether you use a datacenter, residential, or mobile proxies – or even the VPN – it is considered illegal for you to access a service that has been blocked. For this reason, it is advisable to find out the local law of your country regarding proxy usage to avoid getting into legal trouble.

That’s all Myths & Truths About Mobile Proxies

While there are many ways to learn about mobile proxies, one of the easiest ways to learn about the basics is by going through facts written about them. the above are interesting facts you should know about mobile proxies.