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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-22T02:30:05+00:00

I am developing a proof-of-concept tool for an internal research project. We have specific

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I am developing a proof-of-concept tool for an internal research project.

We have specific needs which can only be met by running our application as a system app, like the Settings or Phone app.

Am I right in thinking that the only way to run an application under the system user (uid=1000) is by setting the following in the manifest:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
    package="com.frogdesign.desktop" 
    android:sharedUserId="android.uid.system" >

and signing my application with the platform certificate?

If so, for a given phone, e.g. Galaxy S, this would require us to sign using Samsung’s certificate. Not going to happen, right.

So if we root the phone and stick something like cyanogenmod on it, would the required certificate be cyanogenmod’s platform certificate?

Is this generally made available?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I am fairly confident that you would not be using the manufacturer’s key. On my Galaxy S, the Gmail app is a system app, and you can update it from the Android Market (i.e. it’s signed, if it is at all, by Google and not by Samsung).

    If the phone is deodexed, you should be able to just move the app to /system/app/ (or /system/priv-app/ on newer OS versions). This requires a rooted phone, so that you can mount the system partition as writeable. This is in conjunction with your manifest settings, of course. I’m not sure if that’s sufficient, since I haven’t done this myself, but it’s something to try.

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