{"package_name":"com.sec.android.soagent","label":"Software update","device_count":42,"observation_count":64,"user_facing_count":0,"first_seen":"2025-05-05T17:48:10Z","last_seen":"2026-07-27T19:03:49Z","guidance":{"summary":"Made by Samsung and labelled \"Software update\" on the device in every locale we have recorded, this is part of the software update path on Galaxy handsets: the consumer, or business-to-consumer, route by which Samsung delivers firmware and security patches over the air. It runs in the background with no launcher entry of its own in our sample, and it is signed by a Samsung OEM key that also signs the Android framework, a platform-level key. Samsung does not publish package-level documentation for it, so read the mapping between this package and the Settings entry a user sees as inferred from the device label rather than as documented behaviour.\n\nIn an Android Enterprise, EMM or kiosk context the useful thing to know is that firmware behaviour is meant to be controlled by policy rather than by interfering with the updater. On a fully managed device a DPC can set a system update policy of automatic, windowed or postponed, and on Android 9 (API level 28) or higher it can define freeze periods of up to 90 days during which no OS update is installed and the user cannot check for updates in Settings; checking whether an update is pending needs Android 8.0 (API level 26) or higher. On Samsung hardware there is more: Knox Service Plugin exposes firmware controls that can block over-the-air updates or force auto-update on Wi-Fi, and Knox E-FOTA moves the device onto Samsung's business-to-business FOTA server so administrators choose the exact firmware version. Note that once a device is enrolled in Knox E-FOTA it no longer receives the consumer firmware updates this component would otherwise handle. Disabling the updater to hold a fleet on a known build is the wrong tool: it risks disrupting delivery of firmware and security updates and gives you none of the control the policy routes provide, so leave it in place and use policy.\n\nVersion note: builds observed here are in the 7.x series, targeting API 31 up to 37, so it is maintained across current Android releases. We could not source how Samsung's on-device update stack is composed, or whether other update-related packages share the work on a given build, so do not assume this is the only package involved in updating a device.","safe_to_disable":"never","sources":[{"title":"Manage system updates (device policy controller) - Android Developers","url":"https://developer.android.com/work/dpc/system-updates"},{"title":"Firmware update policy - Knox Service Plugin, Samsung Knox Documentation","url":"https://docs.samsungknox.com/admin/knox-platform-for-enterprise/knox-service-plugin/configure-advanced-policies/firmware-update-policy/"},{"title":"Knox E-FOTA frequently asked questions - Samsung Knox Documentation","url":"https://docs.samsungknox.com/admin/knox-efota/faq/"},{"title":"Package provenance for com.sec.android.soagent - Android System App Database","url":"https://sysapps.bayton.org/api/packages/com.sec.android.soagent"}],"last_verified":"2026-07-26T00:00:00Z"},"labels":[{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-gb","count":22},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-us","count":16},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en","count":13},{"label":"Aggiornamento software","locale":"it-IT","count":5},{"label":"Softwareupdate","locale":"nl-nl","count":5},{"label":"Actualización de software","locale":"es-us","count":3},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-nl","count":3},{"label":"Software-Update","locale":"de-de","count":3},{"label":"Actualización de software","locale":"es-es","count":2},{"label":"Actualización de software","locale":"es-ES","count":2},{"label":"Aggiornamento software","locale":"it-it","count":2},{"label":"Mise à jour logicielle","locale":"fr-fr","count":2},{"label":"Software update","locale":"","count":2},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-GB","count":2},{"label":"Actualización de software","locale":"es-US","count":1},{"label":"Aktualizacja oprogramowania","locale":"pl-PL","count":1},{"label":"Aktualizacja oprogramowania","locale":"pl-pl","count":1},{"label":"Mise à jour logicielle","locale":"fr-dz","count":1},{"label":"Mise à jour logicielle","locale":"fr-FR","count":1},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-US","count":1},{"label":"Software update","locale":"en-au","count":1},{"label":"Обновление ПО","locale":"ru-ru","count":1}],"seen_on":[{"device_id":293,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A125F","os_api":"31","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-01-21T16:36:23Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"0a012131b1bdf9e80ef97d37f3b48362be363a464c8445ecf83627ebe8493a1e"}},{"device_id":45,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A135F","os_api":"34","observation_count":3,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-01-21T21:26:08Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":292,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A137F","os_api":"34","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-01-17T15:40:39Z"},{"device_id":101,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A236B","os_api":"34","observation_count":2,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-04-10T09:18:27Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":130,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A266B","os_api":"35","observation_count":2,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-08-21T17:33:39Z"},{"device_id":297,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A266B","os_api":"36","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-01-26T12:37:53Z"},{"device_id":3914,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A346B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-07-27T19:03:49Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":75,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A515F","os_api":"33","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-06-30T11:33:16Z"},{"device_id":58,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A528B","os_api":"33","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-06-19T10:15:41Z"},{"device_id":57,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A536B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-06-19T09:46:41Z"},{"device_id":76,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A556B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-07-01T07:26:00Z"},{"device_id":197,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-A566B","os_api":"36","observation_count":2,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-11-04T15:01:36Z"},{"device_id":94,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-F721B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-07-09T14:36:33Z"},{"device_id":220,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-F766B","os_api":"36","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-11-11T17:28:28Z"},{"device_id":205,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-G766B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-10-17T16:37:16Z"},{"device_id":280,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-G780F","os_api":"33","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-12-29T12:36:43Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":241,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-G973U","os_api":"31","observation_count":2,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-06-10T15:06:05Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":298,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-G991B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-04-19T09:09:11Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":300,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-M315F","os_api":"31","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-02-02T16:03:40Z"},{"device_id":145,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-N950U1","os_api":"28","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-08-20T13:37:10Z"},{"device_id":11,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-N986B","os_api":"33","observation_count":9,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-07-17T00:14:13Z"},{"device_id":120,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-S721U","os_api":"35","observation_count":5,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-08-05T02:05:06Z"},{"device_id":34,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-S906B","os_api":"35","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-06-02T16:53:54Z"},{"device_id":356,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-S908U","os_api":"36","observation_count":1,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2026-07-27T16:46:08Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":99,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-S921B","os_api":"35","observation_count":2,"user_facing_count":0,"last_seen":"2025-07-22T13:41:51Z","provenance":{"classification":"oem","vendor":"Samsung","sha256":"34df0e7a9f1cf1892e45c056b4973cd81ccf148a4050d11aea4ac5a65f900a42"}},{"device_id":347,"make":"samsung","model":"SM-S921B","os_api":"36","observation_count":1,"u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app can access location at any time, even while the app is not in use.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION","description":"This app can get your approximate location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION","description":"This app can get your precise location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location. This may increase battery usage.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE","description":"Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE","description":"Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE","description":"Allows the app to make use of foreground services.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.INTERNET","description":"Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE","description":"Signature or privileged system permission.","official":false,"doc":{"title":"User Data Identifiers","url":"https://developer.android.com/identity/user-data-ids"}},{"permission":"android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED","description":"Allows the app to have itself started as soon as the system has finished booting. This can make it take longer to start the phone and allow the app to slow down the overall phone by always running.","official":true},{"permission":"android.permission.WAKE_LOCK","description":"Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.","official":true},{"permission":"com.samsung.android.permission.COVER","official":false},{"permission":"com.samsung.android.security.permission.SAMSUNG_KEYSTORE_PERMISSION","official":false},{"permission":"com.sec.android.app.setupwizardlegalprovider.GETDOCUMENT","official":false},{"permission":"com.sec.android.soagent.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION","official":false}]}}
