com.sec.android.app.hwmoduletest Copy

Labelled "HwModuleTest" on Galaxy devices, this is a Samsung-signed system package with no launcher entry: this site records it as not user-facing on every observation, and the signing key it shares with the rest of the Samsung system estate also signs the framework. It belongs to Samsung's factory and hardware test tooling. The clearest sourceable evidence for that is what it declares: android.permission.HARDWARE_TEST, which the Android platform manifest defines as allowing access to hardware peripherals and describes as intended only for hardware testing, at signature protection level and not for third-party use. Alongside it sit permissions that match a per-component test harness, including MANAGE_FINGERPRINT, HIGH_SAMPLING_RATE_SENSORS, MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS, BLUETOOTH_ADMIN, DEVICE_POWER and VIBRATE. It also holds keystring permissions belonging to com.sec.android.app.lcdtest, com.sec.factory and com.sec.testingsettings. A keystring is one of the star-and-hash sequences typed into the dialler to reach a hidden engineering screen, and those declarations are consistent with the keystring family covered by this site's notes on DRParser Mode and Service mode. They establish what this package declares, not that it is itself reachable from the dialler: no source examined here demonstrates a runtime route. Samsung publishes no functional documentation for this package, so which individual test screens it presents is not sourceable here, and descriptions circulating on APK catalogues are not a basis for a claim. Version note. Samsung's own Common Criteria application lists record it at version 9 on Android 9-era Galaxy S10+ firmware and 11 on Android 11-era Galaxy S20 FE and S20 Ultra firmware, matching the Android major version in each case. This site records later builds from "12" through to "2.0.13.0", so dotted version names appear in the later builds observed here rather than the Android major number used earlier; which Android release introduced that change, and why, could not be sourced. Nothing sourced suggests the package has been superseded or modularised: it is observed here from API 28 through API 37. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use, it is worth separating visibility from exposure. Being non-user-facing it will not appear in a launcher, so administrators normally meet it in an EMM app inventory rather than on a device. Where a build does make engineering screens reachable from the dialler, that is the exposure that matters on a locked-down device, and the practical control is the allowlist: keep the dialler and other system apps out of a kiosk allowlist unless they are needed, then test the finished build by actively trying to escape it. In the Android Management API the documented lever is an application policy with installType BLOCKED, which the reference defines as the app being blocked and unable to install, and uninstalled if it was installed under a previous policy; the reference does not state what that does to a package preinstalled in the system image, so confirm the outcome on the device model in question. Samsung documents neither what depends on this package nor what service and repair workflows need it, so disabling is rated caution rather than treated as a routine debloat target.

• core/res/AndroidManifest.xml (android.permission.HARDWARE_TEST) - Android platform source →
• Galaxy S10+ LTE (G975F) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S20 FE 5G (G781B) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (G988W) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Policies resource (ApplicationPolicy installType) - Android Management API →
• How do I prevent users from escaping kiosk (lock task) mode? - Jason Bayton →
• Package provenance for com.sec.android.app.hwmoduletest - 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 26 permissions: 9 signature or system-level, 8 install-time and 9 vendor or uncatalogued.
• APK size ranges from 1.5 MB to 5.1 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.