I know what you’re thinking: “Solo mining with an Android phone? Has he lost his mind?” But don’t worry, I’m still sane! In a world full of high-end mining rigs that cost more than my car, I thought: Why not try the basics and see what my little phone can do?
In this tutorial I will show you how to turn your Android device into a mini mining rig that doesn’t invent a new block, but is all the more fun. Unpack your chargers, it’s going to be exciting!
Install the Public-Pool app from the Umbrel App Store
./cpuminer -o stratum+tcp://umbrel.local:2018 -u bitcoin_address.workername -p x -a sha256d -R 10
Or with thread limitation ( -t 2 ) how many threads (depending on how many CPUs you have on your device) ./cpuminer -o stratum+tcp://umbrel.local:2018 -u bitcoin_address.workername -p x -a sha256d -R 10 -t 2
App can run in background, if you want to quit press CTRL + C.
And there you have it!
Your Android phone is now officially a mini-miner - albeit in a more symbolic sense. Of course, solo mining on a smartphone is not a way to get rich (or earn anything worth mentioning), but hey, it’s all about having fun, right?
If your phone started to glow a little during the process - don’t worry, that’s part of the “mining charm”! And if you’re now keen to do some “real” mining, it might be time to invest in some more powerful hardware.
Note: If no connection to Umbrel can be established, the following line should be added to /etc/hosts: 192.168.x.x umbrel.local
Replace “192.168.x.x” with your local IP of your node.
Hi, I followed the tutorial until the end but when I launch the last command it gives me this message “Stratum connection failed: Could not resolve host: umbrel.local”. How can I solve it?
Yes I did, but it keeps giving me this message “Stratum authentication failed”, I think I solved the host problem, maybe it’s something else causing the problem.
I just reinstalled everything again to test the configuration. Everything works great. I’m 99% sure that you didn’t adjust your hosts file correctly. Assuming you have followed these instructions, here are the exact steps again on how to do this on your smartphone (Ubuntu instance):
Open Termux (Note: it must be the F-Droid version)
Type: ./start-ubuntu.sh ; su
Type: cd ..
Type: cd etc
Type: nano hosts
Now you can store the IP of your node here (see screenshot)
Save with CTRL O and exit with CTRL X
Start the CPU miner according to the instructions.
Please use a BTC address that starts with “bc1” instead of a zpub. A zpub is not the right choice for transactions, as it is used for generating new receiving addresses in a HD wallet. These addresses are not suitable for direct use in transactions…