Mysterious Google App Spotted Running on Millions of Android Phones

Android users may be surprised to discover that they have an app called Android Pulse running in the background, even if they don't remember downloading it. The app was recently listed on the Google Play Store and has already been downloaded over ten million times.

The description of the app suggests that it runs diagnostics on both the operating system and installed apps to detect any misbehaving software or services. It's likely looking for apps that use more battery or CPU than they should, but it's unclear what happens if such a problem is found.

Android Pulse was first spotted on APK Mirror in March, but its recent listing on the Google Play Store has brought attention to this mysterious app. Despite being available as an update for some users, there doesn't seem to be any way to directly interact with Android Pulse or run scans from it.