A mysterious app just showed up on your Android phone, and it’s watching your battery

Android Pulse, a headless diagnostic app that tracks battery, CPU, and memory usage, has been pre-installed on more than 10 million Android devices since March. It appeared in Play Store update queues only this weekend, lacks a user interface, and is listed under system settings on Pixel phones while showing as an unlabeled square elsewhere. Its silent distribution may conflict with the EU Digital Markets Act, which mandates uninstall options for system-level apps.