com.android.carrierdefaultapp Copy

The Carrier Default App (labelled "Operator communications" or "Carrier Communications" on some devices), an AOSP framework package made by Google. It provides Android's built-in, out-of-the-box behaviour for carrier signals when the network operator has not shipped its own app to handle them. Its best-known job is the out-of-balance case: when a network redirects a device whose data or credit has run out, this app disables the metered data connection and shows a notification pointing the user to the operator's portal so they can top up. It reacts to carrier signals such as ACTION_CARRIER_SIGNAL_REDIRECTED and ACTION_CARRIER_SIGNAL_REQUEST_NETWORK_FAILED. Carriers can keep the default behaviour, override the signal-to-action mapping through carrier config XML, or replace it entirely with their own privileged app, so on many SIMs this package does nothing because the operator handles these signals itself. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use it has no role in enrolment or management. On Wi-Fi-only devices, or where the carrier never sends these signals, it is effectively dormant. Disabling it removes the default out-of-balance and redirect handling, which can leave a user with no on-device prompt when their plan is exhausted, so treat removal with caution.

• Customize device behavior for out-of-balance users - Android Open Source Project →
• com.android.carrierdefaultapp - Android Debloat List →

• Re-signed by each device maker with its own platform key - 29 different certificates appear across 15 device makers in our sample. That is the signature of a stock AOSP/system package every OEM builds and signs itself, not a single maker's or a third party's preinstall. These are platform-level keys: they also sign the Android framework itself.
• Its largest observed manifest declares 11 permissions: 1 runtime (user-granted), 7 signature or system-level, 2 install-time and 1 vendor or uncatalogued. The signature/system share marks it as a privileged component, not an ordinary app.
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.