com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver : What is CellBroadcastService on Android?

com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is a pre-installed system app on Android devices that is accountable handle the emergency and emergency alert-related tasks on the device. Know more about com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver. What is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver in Google my activity. What is it used for? Is it an essential app? Is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver safe for you data stored on the device. Let’s find the answers.

What is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver
What is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver?

What is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver?

Android users might have noticed an activity named ‘com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver‘ running. This package keeps running in the background on the android device that has any kind of cellular connection.

com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is the packaged name of a pre-installed android service app called CellBroadcastService. The app is responsible for handling the broadcasts in emergency and non-emergency situations to present the information to end-user based on carrier and regional regulations.

What is CellBroadcastService?

CellBroadcastService is a messaging service framework on Android devices that is designed to deliver messages to multiple mobile phone users, in a defined area, at the same time.

In fact Cell Broadcast Service messaging framework supports CellBroadcast SMS decoding, geofencing for wireless emergency alert (WEA) 3.0, message duplication checks, and broadcasting messages to apps.

Name: Cell Broadcast Service
Package Name: com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver
Developer: Google LLC

The CellBroadcastReceiver app is built into the Android framework starting in Android 11 (API level 28) and higher. The app features a single broadcast receiver to handle system-wide notifications, which any application can send.

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What is Cell broadcast Receiver?

The Cell Broadcast Receiver app on Android provides a platform in emergency conditions for alert notification and traffic alerts. A reliable and concise app for android with an interactive multi-selection icon that allows users to use it in different emergency situations.

This app has permissive private permission because the default system behavior prevents the end-user from enabling or disabling alerting for emergency and non-emergency alerts.

What is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver used for?

com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is a package name, that works for cell broadcast receiver in android. In fact, all the apps installed on Android have their unique package name that not only helps the Android system to identify the app but it also helps the developers to differentiate between the apps.

Whenever an emergency broadcast is released from the device this starts a chain of processes from sending to receiving the SMS. The flow of a received SMS through the CellBroadcastService works in the following way.

  1. Firstly, an SMS is received from the Carrier network which flows to the Modem from where it is sent to the Radio Interface Layer(RIL).
  2. The Radio Interface Layer(RIL) then notifies the InBoundSMSHandler app on your device with the help of the RILNotifier app about a CDMA/GSM CellBroadcast SMS.
  3. The InBoundSMSHandler sends the CellBroadcast SMS to the CBS module for parsing and processing the message.
  4. Once the message is processed, CellBroadcastService sends the intent to the CellBroadcastReceiver app which then displays the message to the receiver.

How does CellBroadcastService work?

  1. InboundSMSHandler is a small helper class that receives a CellBroadcast SMS and reacts when it comes in.
  2. The InboundSMSHandler is available for dialog services that require incoming SMS, like chatbots. It acts as the core interface.
  3. When a message comes in, it’s forwarded to the CellBroadcast SMS module for the framework to parse and process the incoming.
    Once the CellBroadcastService receives the broadcasted intent, it will forward it to the system default CellBroadcastReceiver app. Keep in mind that if there are registered CellBroadcastReceiver apps in your system, they may also receive the broadcasted intent.
  4. The CellBroadcastReceiver app(com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver package) alerts the user automatically.

What Permission Configuration Does CellBroadcast Require?

Initially, CellBroadcastReceiver app was signed using Google Signature itself instead of Android platform signature. After the rollout of Android 11 a new signature was assigned to the it. This made it easy to obtain the signature to sign the app using same key. This ensures the required SMS app permissions.

Also, restrict your app from accessing the CellBroadcast service by adding the permission for android.permission.SEND_CELLBROADCAST in its manifest and fully implementing the com.android.cellbroadcastservice.permission.C2D_MESSAGE permission in an accompanying service.

Module Integration of com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver

CellBroadcastReceiver app or the package com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver allows you to integrate it with different modules including Settings, Messaging apps and SMS Inbox.

Here is the complete list of CellBroadcastReceiver app integration modules.

CellBroadcastReceiver Integration with Settings

Users can access the CellBroadcasr service from Settings > Apps & Notifications > Advanced > Emergency alert. To launch the CellBroadcastReceiver app from the Settings app, the setting configuration that should be used with package name com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver inside the string cell_broadcast_receiver_package.

This can be used to launch the specific activity app from Default Google account login screen in case of a cellular emergency even there is no network at all.

CellBroadcastReceiver Integration with Messaging apps

The app allows you to link with existing messaging apps and social media so you can receive alerts directly in your app. For Android users, this is a new feature inside of Settings > Advanced > Emergency alert.

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If you want to use your app and still use the CellBroadcast List activity, define the component name: com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver/com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver.

For developers, this can be integrated into Messaging apps by configuring the component name for the CellBroadcast module as com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver/com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver.CellBroadcastListActivity.

Launching CellBroadcastReceiver app

The CellBroadcasrReceiver app can be launched from the following places:

  • The Settings app on your device.
  • The default Messaging app or a third-party Messaging app that links to CellBroadcast message history.
  • A launch icon from the Android home screen.

How to Enable  the CMAS secret code

In order to receive the Emergency Alert notifications it is required to enable the CMAS service for mobile devices but it has no effect on the user-side capabilities.

During an emergency, the CMAS transmits the location of the device to rescue teams. The CMAS secret code can be enabled by dialing *#*#2627#*#* on the dialer.

When the secret code is sent, a message will appear indicating that CMAS has been enabled on the device.

List of Samsung Secret Codes | Samsung One UI and TouchWiz Devices

Customizing CellBroadcast Alerts

The source code of CellBroadcast cannot be customized directly but there are some runtime resource overlays that can be used to customize the color of notifications and dimensions on dialogs.

Migrating data on CellBroadcast App

Android device running on Android 11 and later OS version has a  new CellBroadcast app that can save user settings during hardware replacement.

The Cell Broadcast app has a CellBroadcastContentProvider APK that allows you to override the stock CellBroadcast APK. It also preserves the current data before the legacy implementation is removed.

To migrate message history to the CellBroadcast module, the CellBroadcastContentProvider APK must support the ContentProvider.query.

The migration is done via com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver.

The Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) verifies the functionality of app-dependent system APIs. This identifies basic compatibility problems while developing apps like app crashes, runtime errors, as well as other errors and automatically removes these incompatibilities with the new API levels.

There is also a Debug Mode that allows CMAS testers to identify and solve technical issues with CMAS systems and the device end-systems. App and Device Testers can use specific access codes to enable Debug Mode on certain end devices.

This was an explanation of CellBroadcast and the packaged name com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver. But, as a Android user, you might be concerned about the safety of the device. So, in the next segment we shall discuss if com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is safe? And is it possible to uninstall it? Let’s know all.

Is com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver Safe or Is it a Virus?

com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is a package name for the native Cel Broadcast app on Android. The app is developed by Google itself and it’s completely safe.

There is no evidence of CellBroadcast App containing any Spyware, Keylogger or virus.

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Can you Uninstall com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver?

The CellBroadcast App is one of the essential app services on android that can help you to take appropriate action in emergency situations. Yet, it is possible to uninstall it CellBroadcast App from the device completely.

There are two methods to uninstall CellBroadcast App from android which are as follows;

1. Uninstall Using Android Debug Bridge(ADB)

ADB allows you to bring up a Unix shell so you can issue commands directly on the Android device. You’ll need a Windows PC to use ADB.

  1. Go to Settings > System > About phone.
  2. Tap on the Build number 7 times to activate Developer Options.
  3. Go back to the main Settings menu and tap on Developer Options to open it.
  4. Enable USB debugging by tapping on it.
  5. Download ADB on your PC.
  6. Extract the ZIP file into a folder.
  7. After extracting the ZIP file, open that folder.
  8. Press and hold the shift button and right-click in a blank area.
  9. Click on “Open Powershell window here.
  10.  Enter the command
    adb devices.
  11. Connect your Android device to the PC using a USB data cable and set the USB mode as File Transfer.
  12. You will receive a USB debugging notification on your phone, tap on OK to allow debugging access.
  13. Re-enter the command
    adb devices.
  14. You should now see the Serial number of your device on the Powershell window.
  15. Run the command
    adb shell pm uninstall –user 0 com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver
  16. Wait for a few seconds. You’ll notice the app has been uninstalled from your device.

2. Using System App Remover

This method requires you to root to your Android device. After gaining root access follow the steps below to uninstall this system app.

  1. Download and install the System App Remover application.
  2. Launch the application, search for CellBroadcastReceiver and select this app by tapping on the checkbox next to it.
  3. Tap the “Uninstall” button to completely remove the app from your device.

Is Uninstalling com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver safe?

Uninstalling com.google.android.cellbroadcastreceiver safe as is not essential to run the apps and features on the android device. However, it may keep you from sending emergency alerts in emergency situations.

OTHER SYSTEM APPS:

Final Words:

com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver is the package name for CellBroadcastService, a system app on android that is accountable to send the data and information from device to user-end in a case of an emergency situation. The service is integrated with the messages framework on android. Don’t forget to check our ABOUT section for other information regarding system apps and their usages on Android.

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