com.sem.factoryapp Copy

Labelled "SEMFactoryApp" 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 its single consistent signing key also signs the framework. Samsung's own Common Criteria mode application lists confirm it as a Samsung preload rather than anything added later, recording it on Galaxy S10+ (G975F) Android 9-era firmware, on Galaxy S20 FE 5G (G781B) and on Galaxy S21 5G (G991B) Android 11-era firmware. Despite the unusual com.sem prefix it is recorded only on Samsung devices here, on 29 models. What it actually does is not documented by Samsung, and descriptions on APK catalogue sites, including a claim that it wipes a device, are not a basis for a claim. What can be established is what it declares: three permissions only, being WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS, which the platform treats as a signature or privileged permission, a Samsung permission identifier naming eSE info, and com.samsung.android.security.permission.SAMSUNG_KEYSTORE_PERMISSION. In Android terminology eSE is the embedded Secure Element, which AOSP describes as dedicated, separate tamper-resistant hardware to store cryptographic data. Taken together with the "factory" in its name and its small size, recorded here between roughly 50 KB and 85 KB, those declarations are consistent with a production-line or service support component that touches secure settings, the secure element and Samsung's keystore. That is what it declares, not proof of what it does at runtime, and no source examined here demonstrates how it is invoked. It sits alongside Samsung's other factory and engineering tooling covered by this site's notes on HwModuleTest and Service mode. Version note: the version scheme changed. Samsung's application lists record version 4.4 on the Android 9-era Galaxy S10+ firmware and 1.0.00.41 on the Android 11-era Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S21 firmware, and this site records builds from 1.0.00.41 to 1.1.00.00 across API 28 to API 37. The renumbering therefore happened somewhere between the Android 9-era and Android 11-era firmware; what changed with it could not be sourced. Nothing found here suggests the package has been superseded, replaced by a role holder or moved into a Mainline module: it is still recorded on current builds. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use it has no enrolment or management function and no user interface, so administrators normally meet it in an EMM app inventory rather than on a device. Because Samsung documents neither what it does nor what depends on it, and because it holds permissions over secure settings and the secure element, it is rated caution rather than treated as a routine debloat target: if a build must be trimmed, block or disable it on a single device first and check that provisioning, attestation and repair workflows still behave.

• Galaxy S10+ LTE (G975F) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S20 FE 5G (G781B) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• Galaxy S21 5G (G991B) application list - Samsung Knox CC Mode documentation →
• CTS test for Secure Element (embedded Secure Element definition) - Android Open Source Project →
• Package provenance for com.sem.factoryapp - 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 17 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 (580 packages, 11729 observations).
• Its largest observed manifest declares 3 permissions: 1 signature or system-level and 2 vendor or uncatalogued.
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.