com.google.android.permissioncontroller Copy

The Permission Controller handles the permission-related user interface and logic on Android: the runtime permission grant and deny dialogs, the per-permission and per-app permission screens, permission usage tracking, and (from Android 12) the role-management logic that decides which app holds roles such as default dialler or SMS. It is Google-signed and part of Google Mobile Services; it is system infrastructure rather than a user-facing app and has no launcher icon. Its packaging is strongly version-specific, and this matters when reading the database. On Android 10 (API 29) the Permission Controller is a plain APK named com.google.android.permissioncontroller and is not updatable. From Android 11 onwards it became a Project Mainline module in APEX format, renamed com.google.android.permission, and is updatable independently of full OS releases via Google Play system updates; in Android 12 the framework and system-server role classes were moved into the module. The entries you see on this site under the com.google.android.permissioncontroller name are therefore predominantly Android 10-era, and the "aml_" version strings in the data reflect its Mainline (Android Mainline) train. It must not be disabled or removed. Without it, apps cannot be granted runtime permissions and permission dialogs break, which will silently break EMM-managed apps and kiosk apps that depend on granted permissions. In Android Enterprise the correct lever is not removal but the managed permission policy (auto-grant, auto-deny or prompt) applied through the EMM, which the Permission Controller then enforces.

• PermissionController - Android Open Source Project →
• Modular system components (Project Mainline) - Android Open Source Project →

• Signed by Google's own signing key (the same key Google uses across devices), so it is a Google-provided preinstall that updates independently of the system image, though 2 different Google signing keys appear across the fleet. This certificate spans 17 device makes - the hallmark of a globally distributed Google key.
• Its largest observed manifest declares 58 permissions: 1 runtime (user-granted), 48 signature or system-level, 3 install-time and 6 vendor or uncatalogued. The signature/system share marks it as a privileged component, not an ordinary app.
• APK size ranges from 5.8 MB to 26.5 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.