com.samsung.android.game.gametools Copy

Game Booster, the in-game panel on Galaxy devices. Samsung's own support documentation states that "Game Booster is a separate app from Gaming Hub, but the two of them work together", and describes what it puts on screen while a game is running: a pop-up panel giving fast access to other apps, alongside shortcuts that include a floating menu and a system monitor. Samsung adds that Game Booster may not be available for all games. The performance levels of Performance, Standard or Battery saver appear in the same Samsung gaming documentation but are described as part of the wider gaming options rather than as contents of that panel, and Samsung has since moved where some of those controls live, which the version note below covers. It is part of Samsung's gaming stack alongside com.samsung.android.game.gos, the Game Optimizing Service documented separately on this site. The sources cited here do not establish how responsibility is divided between the two, so the common description of Game Booster as the interface and the Game Optimizing Service as the background component applying performance and thermal limits should be treated as unconfirmed. It has no launcher entry in any observation here and is signed by Samsung OEM keys that also sign the Android framework. The permissions it declares, as recorded on this site, match an overlay panel with unusually deep reach: SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW and INTERNAL_SYSTEM_WINDOW for drawing over other apps, MANAGE_GAME_MODE, READ_FRAME_BUFFER, MANAGE_MEDIA_PROJECTION, RECORD_AUDIO and CAPTURE_AUDIO_OUTPUT, FORCE_STOP_PACKAGES and KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES, plus a Samsung permission for reaching the screen recorder service. Declaring these is not evidence that the panel exercises any of them, and this site records declared rather than granted permissions, but the list is not that of a cosmetic add-on. MANAGE_GAME_MODE ties it to Android's own Game Mode, which Google documents as available on select Android 12 devices and on Android 13 or higher, and where interventions are set by the OEM: Google's documentation warns plainly that "OEMs may choose to implement Game Mode interventions without developer feedback". Version note. Samsung's own Common Criteria application lists record this same package under two different names: "Game Tools" on the Galaxy Note9 (the Oreo-era N960N list, at 2.0.10.13) and "Game Booster" on the Galaxy S20 (the R-era G981U list, at 3.0.00.8). This site's own label data still carries both names across the devices recorded, so the rename is visible in the field as well as in Samsung's documentation. The release at which it changed could not be sourced beyond falling between those two lists, and neither could any change in what the panel does at the same time. Current devices here report versions 4.0.01.0 to 9.0.00.24, observed from API 28 through API 37 and targeting API 31 to 37, only on Samsung hardware. Samsung documents a second, more recent set of changes, and this one matters if you are writing instructions for users or support staff. On Galaxy devices running One UI 7, the option to choose high performance mode moved out of Game Booster's Labs settings to the top of the Game Booster settings menu, and muting calls and notifications while gaming, previously Game Booster's Priority mode, is now set up through Modes and Routines instead. Per-game customisation on those builds covers game optimisation level, frames per second, screen resolution and frame booster settings. Where a given control lives therefore depends on the One UI version in front of you. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use this deserves more attention than a gaming feature normally would, because Samsung documents the panel as giving fast access to other apps from inside it. On a device meant to run one application, that is a route out of the intended experience wherever the panel can appear. Be precise about when that is: Samsung documents the panel as appearing while a game is running, and says it may not be available for every game. Whether it can be brought up over a kiosk application that is not a game is not documented and could not be verified here, so treat the concern as established where a game is present or where the foreground application is itself treated as a game, and as unverified beyond that. The general platform control is the Android Management API field createWindowsDisabled, "Whether creating windows besides app windows is disabled", which governs overlays rather than this package specifically. To remove the feature itself, Samsung documents blocking a named preinstalled app through Knox Manage's application policies. The rating below is caution rather than safe because Game Booster sits alongside Gaming Hub and the Game Optimizing Service rather than being isolated from them, so on a fleet where nobody plays games it earns nothing, but the change should still be tested on one device first.

• Use Gaming Hub and gaming options on your Galaxy device - Samsung Support →
• Using Game Booster Shortcuts - Samsung Australia Support →
• Updates to Game Booster settings and features on Samsung Galaxy devices (One UI 7) - Samsung Australia Support →
• Game Mode API (availability on Android 12 and Android 13 or higher) - Android Developers →
• Game Mode interventions (set by OEMs) - Android Developers →
• Galaxy Note9 (N960N) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S20 5G (G981U) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Policy resource reference (createWindowsDisabled) - Android Management API →
• Enable or disable a specific system app - Knox Manage - Samsung Knox Documentation →
• Package provenance for com.samsung.android.game.gametools - Android System App Database →

• Signed by the device maker's own signing key (Samsung), so it is an OEM preinstall, but 2 different certificates appear across the fleet, so OEMs ship their own builds of it. It also signs the Android framework, so it is a platform-level key on its device(s). Inferred from the certificate appearing only on Samsung devices (508 packages, 10196 observations).
• Its largest observed manifest declares 59 permissions: 2 runtime (user-granted), 31 signature or system-level, 12 install-time and 14 vendor or uncatalogued. The signature/system share marks it as a privileged component, not an ordinary app.
• Reported as an updated system app on 3 of 21 profiles - a newer build is installed over the one in the system image there.