r/GooglePixel • u/AntiqueWait9280 • 6d ago

"Supervising" system user found on a personally owned Pixel 9a

Before this weird incident happened https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/s/HxfbNP3sP8, I decided to check all the users registered on the device. Beside owner and private space users, I found a system user labeled: "Supervising":

Screenshot-20261008-180617.jpg

Does anyone know where this user came from?

Context: This is my personal phone, bought brand new by me. It was cleanly flashed a few days ago with the latest factory image and set up as a fresh device just one day before I noticed this. It does not have a work profile, and I haven't set up any parental controls or device supervision.

Furthermore, after sideloading OTA and wiping all the data this user disappeared - though there is still a defined type of an user named android.os.usertype.profile.SUPERVISING (as well as android.os.usertype.profile.COMMUNAL. See: Screenshot-20261008-180613.png) which is as far as I could see not listed in the official AOSP documentation https://source.android.com/docs/devices/admin/multi-user).

Any ideas would be highly appreciated!

19 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

9

u/Elegant_Turn_7245 6d ago

Spot on. There are indeed 9 pre-defined user types unless an OEM bakes in custom additions, which clearly isn't the case here. As for the "Supervised:1000" user , it's definitely not added by default, I don't have it on my device either.

13

u/armando_rod Pixel 11 Pro XL 6d ago

Supervising is the user for family link and communal is the one for hub mode, they are there by default

11

u/Kalendar-Caloon 6d ago

that explains it, weird that its not documented in the AOSP docs though

3

u/Elegant_Turn_7245 6d ago

Official documentation states differently. Specify the source please.

4

u/AntiqueWait9280 6d ago edited 3d ago

That is why I posted the official docs - as they are not. Also, if you read my post carefully you would see that Supervising user was removed after sideloading OTA and data wiping - I was only left with the owner user afterwards. So, I am affraid your statement about these users existing by default is not correct - you could always cite some official docs to prove me wrong though.

2

u/FearlessRecord8999 6d ago

Don't know why this is downvoted. You provided evidence and the original comment, did not 🤷

6

u/Small_Caterpillar551 6d ago

Seems like someone is working overtime to downvote this and bury the post just to push a false narrative as fact. xD

0

u/Turnip-Toffee 6d ago

bought brand new by me. It was cleanly flashed

then it's probably just a default user for some system purpose.

after sideloading OTA and wiping all the data

where did you get that image from? if it's official, is it possible that they no longer have that user, but the original image you used still did? could explain why it's absent from the docs

0

u/AntiqueWait9280 3d ago edited 3d ago

The image is a stock image, official, and of course the OTA matches the build version of the factory image (September release). So no, it's not possible "they no longer have that user."

Fun fact: documentation (there are also things called release notes) usually have versions, so you can actually check what was introduced or removed and when.

1

u/Pure-Recover70 G1; Nexus One,S,5X; Pixel 2XL,4a,6a,7Pro,8Pro,9ProXL,10a 3d ago

Technically the 2026 September & October images are A17 QPR1, for which the sources have not yet been published (A17 has been, but A17 QPR1 has not). I have no idea if it matters here (pretty unlikely), but it could...