What Is This “Android Pulse” App That’s Showing up on Everyone’s Phones?
If you follow Android app updates in the Play Store, you might have noticed something strange: you have an app called “Android Pulse” installed on your phone. Most of us have too many apps on our phones, and it’s easy to forget we’ve downloaded them—especially if we installed them once and never used them. But I’m willing to bet that not only do you not remember downloading Android Pulse, you have no idea what it is.
Until Monday morning, I’d definitely never heard of Android Pulse, even though I admit I spend far more time on iOS than Android. Fortunately, I don’t think any level of Android knowledge or experience would have prepared me for this app, as Android Pulse has apparently only been around for three days. According to 9to5Google , Android Pulse began appearing in Play Store updates as early as Saturday morning. In fact, the app’s description in the Play Store states that it was released on August 21st of this year by Google itself. And yet, in just three days, Android Pulse has racked up over 10 million downloads in the Play Store.
Android Pulse runs in the background on your phone.
As it turns out, Google didn’t install a random app on tens of millions of Android users’ devices. What’s new is the app’s Play Store description, not Android Pulse. According to the Play Store description, Android Pulse “facilitates the distribution of rules to detect anomalies in the consumption of critical system resources by the Android operating system and installed apps.”
Simply put? Android Pulse virtually monitors any suspicious processes that consume excessive system resources, both within Android and within your phone’s apps. There are many possible causes: perhaps Android Pulse is looking for apps that are putting excessive load on the CPU or GPU, or system processes that are draining your battery more than usual. Either way, Android Pulse is monitoring unusual activity that’s impacting your phone’s performance. And despite this new “app,” there’s little you can do about it. It’s not even clear whether Android Pulse helps the Android operating system fix bugs, or whether Google is simply receiving reports for future stability updates.
Interestingly, although the Play Store states the app is three days old, APKMirror reports its first version was released in March. In any case, Android Pulse only became publicly known this weekend, so for most—if not all—this is news.
What should I do with Android Pulse?
The short answer? Nothing. Android Pulse appears to be a background system resource that just so happens to exist as an app. In fact, judging by screenshots from Android Authority , it can’t even be uninstalled. You might be able to disable or force-stop Pulse, but I’m not sure you’ll need to. The “app” is designed to remove system “loaders”; I suspect it won’t become one itself.