com.android.launcher3 Copy

This is Launcher3, the reference home screen (launcher) in the Android Open Source Project. On many devices it is labelled "Quickstep", the name used for the Launcher3 build that also drives gesture navigation and the recent apps (overview) screen. Launcher3 is the code base that many device makers fork to build their own home experience. Because it is AOSP code rather than a Google application, it is signed by the device maker. Some manufacturers ship Launcher3 largely as-is, while others replace it with, or hide it behind, their own branded launcher. Where it is present and set as the default it is the home app: the process that draws the home screen and, on gesture-navigation builds, handles the home and recents gestures. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk fleets this matters because the home role is essential. Disabling or removing the active launcher with no replacement leaves the device with nowhere to return to when Home is pressed. Managed deployments that need a locked-down home screen normally do not remove the launcher; they set a dedicated kiosk or EMM launcher as the preferred home activity so a controlled launcher takes over instead. Treat this package as safe to disable only when another home app is installed and set as the default.

• AOSP Launcher3 repository - Git at Google →

• Re-signed by each device maker with its own platform key - 15 different certificates appear across 13 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.
• Its largest observed manifest declares 198 permissions: 1 runtime (user-granted), 58 signature or system-level, 12 install-time and 127 vendor or uncatalogued.
• APK size ranges from 0.7 MB to 60.3 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.