com.android.devicediagnostics Copy

This is DeviceDiagnostics, an Android Open Source Project application that provides on-device hardware health checks and tests. It is designed to surface component health such as battery and storage status, and to run manual display tests (cycling through colour screens to find dead pixels) and touch tests. It also includes an evaluation mode that uses one device, via a QR code, to assess another, which is useful for trade-in and refurbishment workflows. The AOSP source for the app carries explicit "trade-in mode" logic, reflecting that resale and evaluation use case. Behaviour here is version-specific and the user-facing surface has changed over time. A "Device diagnostics" menu appeared on Pixel devices during the Android 15 beta cycle (Beta 4, mid-2024), under Settings then System, offering battery and storage health and manual display and touch tests. Reporting indicates Google then withdrew that menu by Beta 4.2, marking it as intended behaviour and saying the feature was not ready for release while more robust diagnostics were still in development, while the underlying application remained in the platform. Its exact status in later stable releases could not be confirmed from these sources. The takeaway is that whether a user-visible diagnostics menu is exposed depends on the Android version and OEM, and the presence of this package does not by itself mean a menu is reachable. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk fleets it is best understood as a diagnostic and trade-in helper rather than a core system service. Consequences of disabling it are not clearly documented, so treat removal with a little caution on devices where trade-in or hardware-evaluation flows might be used.

• platform/packages/apps/DeviceDiagnostics - Git at Google →
• Google Pixel 'Device diagnostics' is gone for now, but it may return in future - Tech Issues Today →

• Re-signed by each device maker with its own platform key - 16 different certificates appear across 7 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 16 permissions: 6 runtime (user-granted), 5 signature or system-level, 3 install-time and 2 vendor or uncatalogued.
• APK size ranges from 5.8 MB to 17.2 MB across the reporting device profiles, so the build differs substantially between them.
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.