com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts Copy

Reported on devices as "Google Contacts Sync", this is a Google component with no launcher icon in our sample. Where signer data is recorded it is signed by keys this site classifies as Google, across several manufacturers' devices. Google does not document it by package name in the sources cited here, so its role is inferred from its label and its permissions. It requests access to read and write contacts, to use the device's accounts and Google authentication, to read and change sync settings, and network access, which fits an Android sync adapter that keeps the device's contacts in step with a Google Account. It also requests a permission named for itself that refers to GAL search, which suggests support for searching a work directory's global address list, but that could not be confirmed. This site aggregates permissions across observations rather than per build, so which builds declare them cannot be established. Version note: in our sample it is recorded only on devices running Android 8.1 to Android 12L (API 27 to 32), and this site's roll-up reports target SDK values from 23 to 31. It is not recorded here on any device running Android 13 or later. Google's current help describes contact backup and sync as a service of Google Play services, and places the "Google Contacts sync" setting under All services in the device settings; those pages do not name this package, so whether that function moved out of this package on newer releases could not be sourced. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use, no enrolment or management role is identified in the sources cited here. If it is the sync adapter its label indicates, disabling it would be expected to stop contacts syncing between the device and the Google Accounts added to it on the Android versions where it is present. Google documents a per-account "Sync to this device" setting for contacts sync, which is a less drastic way to stop syncing than disabling the package.

• Sync Google Contacts with your mobile device or computer - Google Contacts Help →
• Learn more about Google Play services for contacts - Android Help →
• Package provenance for com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts - Android System App Database →

• 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 29 device makes - the hallmark of a globally distributed Google key.
• Its largest observed manifest declares 20 permissions: 3 runtime (user-granted), 1 signature or system-level, 10 install-time and 6 vendor or uncatalogued.
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.