com.google.android.overlay.modules.cellbroadcastreceiver Copy

A Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO) associated with CellBroadcastReceiver, the system app that displays wireless emergency alerts to the user. An RRO is a resource-only package that changes the resource values of a target package at runtime without altering the target's code. AOSP names com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver as the target package for these overlays, and says device makers can use them to customise presentation details such as notification colours and dialog dimensions, referencing parameters the module itself declares as overlayable. It has no launcher entry and is applied by the overlay manager rather than opened; this site records no user-facing observation of it. Version note: CellBroadcast became an updatable Project Mainline module in Android 11, shipped as the com.android.cellbroadcast APEX containing both CellBroadcastService and CellBroadcastReceiver. AOSP's stated rationale is that the module reduces repetitive effort for device makers and in turn reduces fragmentation across the Android ecosystem. Alongside the RRO route, AOSP also documents a set of configuration options for the module, covering things such as SMS inbox integration, launcher icon visibility and area-info (Channel 50) handling. The Google-built module packages com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver and com.google.android.cellbroadcastservice are documented separately on this site. In this site's sample the overlay is recorded with version names 12 through 17 and target SDK 31 to 37, so it has tracked recent releases; whether the values it overlays changed across those releases is not published and could not be sourced. Provenance note: despite the com.google.android prefix, this site's sample records this overlay only on Samsung devices, signed consistently with a single Samsung certificate that is not recorded as also signing the framework. That fits an overlay built into one vendor's firmware rather than one shipped by Google. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use it has no enrolment or policy role. It is worth being clear that it is not the control for emergency alerts: whether alerts are received and shown is governed by the CellBroadcast module and its settings, and emergency alerting is a regulated function in many countries, so it should not be treated as something to switch off through an overlay. Disabling this package would restore the target's own defaults for whichever resources it overrides, but since those resources are not published, the exact effect on a given device cannot be established without inspecting the overlay's contents. Note that AOSP's customisation surface for this module is not limited to appearance: alongside RRO theming it documents configuration options that enable or disable behaviour, such as SMS inbox integration and area-info handling. There is no benefit to disabling it, so treat it as caution and test per device.

• CellBroadcast - Android Open Source Project →
• Change the value of an app's resources at runtime (RROs) - Android Open Source Project →
• Package provenance for com.google.android.overlay.modules.cellbroadcastreceiver - Android System App Database →

• Signed by the device maker's own signing key (Samsung), so it is an OEM preinstall, and that single certificate is consistent across all 22 device profiles. Inferred from the certificate appearing only on Samsung devices (81 packages, 1815 observations).
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.