com.samsung.android.mdecservice Copy

The service behind Samsung's "Call & text on other devices" feature, which lets a Galaxy phone's number be used to make and receive calls and messages on another Galaxy device signed into the same Samsung account. The binding between package and feature is Samsung's own: its Common Criteria application lists record com.samsung.android.mdecservice under exactly that name on the Galaxy Z Flip (the Q-era F700F list, at 2.3.00.32) and the Galaxy S20 (the R-era G981U list, at 3.0.00.39), and every device on this site carries the same label. It has no launcher entry in any observation here, and is signed by a Samsung OEM key that also signs the Android framework. Samsung documents the user-facing side. Both devices must be "signed into the same Samsung account" and the feature must be switched on at both ends; the connected phone "will need to have active service"; and Samsung states the feature "can only be used when the phone is in the same country or region as the tablet". Samsung's United States support page adds that "Call & text on other devices currently does not work with Verizon and AT&T phones", and that "If your Call & text on other devices version is higher than 3.3.00, these features have changed", the change being that both devices must then be on the same Wi-Fi network to make or receive calls. The permissions it declares, as recorded on this site, are what make it worth a second look on a managed handset: READ_SMS and SEND_SMS, READ_CALL_LOG and WRITE_CALL_LOG, READ_CONTACTS, MODIFY_PHONE_STATE, MANAGE_ONGOING_CALLS, MONITOR_DEFAULT_SMS_PACKAGE, SEND_RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE, GET_ACCOUNTS_PRIVILEGED, INTERACT_ACROSS_USERS_FULL, WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS and INTERNET, alongside Samsung account and Samsung Messages permissions. Declaring a permission is not the same as being granted it, still less exercising it, and this site records declared rather than granted permissions. What the list shows is a component that declares what the documented feature requires, which is the ability to read and send the handset's messages and to carry them off the device over the network. Read and write access to the call log is declared alongside that, but Samsung documents calls and messages rather than call-log synchronisation, so what that access is used for is an open question here rather than an established behaviour. Version note. The feature's location in Settings is not stable across builds and this matters if you are writing instructions: Samsung's Hong Kong page describes reaching it through Settings then "Advanced features", while Samsung's United States page routes through "Connected devices". Which applies depends on the One UI version and model in front of you, and the release at which it moved could not be sourced. Versions bear the change out: the Q-era and R-era lists above sit in the 2.x and 3.x series, while devices here report 4.1.00.29 to 9.1.00.9, observed from API 28 through API 37 and targeting API 31 to 37, only on Samsung hardware. No source found here describes a change in what the service does over that span. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use the consideration is data egress rather than device stability. Where the feature is enabled, calls and messages for a managed handset's number can be made and received on a second Galaxy device that the EMM may not manage, using a Samsung account and a user toggle rather than anything the management channel grants. Samsung's own conditions narrow when that is possible, and they are worth reading before treating the feature as either a risk or a given: it depends on model and carrier, requires the phone to have active service, requires both devices in the same country or region, and for versions higher than 3.3.00 requires the same Wi-Fi network for calls. Samsung documents no dedicated restriction for it among Knox Service Plugin's device restrictions. The nearest documented platform controls sit in the Android Management API: smsDisabled, "Whether sending and receiving SMS messages is disabled", and accountTypesWithManagementDisabled, "Account types that can't be managed by the user", though nothing here establishes that the latter prevents Samsung account sign-in on a given build, so test rather than assume. 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: on a fleet where nobody pairs a tablet the feature earns nothing, but the service holds telephony permissions and Samsung does not document what else depends on it, so prove the change on one device before it reaches the fleet.

• Make calls and send messages from your Galaxy tablet - Samsung Support →
• How to make calls and send messages on other Galaxy devices - Samsung Hong Kong Support →
• Galaxy Z Flip LTE (F700F) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S20 5G (G981U) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Device restrictions - Knox Service Plugin - Samsung Knox Documentation →
• Policy resource reference (smsDisabled, accountTypesWithManagementDisabled) - Android Management API →
• Enable or disable a specific system app - Knox Manage - Samsung Knox Documentation →
• Package provenance for com.samsung.android.mdecservice - 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 20 device profiles. 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: 7 runtime (user-granted), 17 signature or system-level, 12 install-time and 23 vendor or uncatalogued.
• APK size ranges from 13.4 MB to 22.3 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.