Android Software Internals Quick Reference: A Field Manual and Security Reference Guide to Java-based Android Components

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021

J. StevensonAndroid Software Internals Quick Referencehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6914-5_3

3. Fundamentals

James Stevenson¹  

(1)

London, UK

 

Android Sandbox

Android runs under a multiuser Linux system which means that each application, and its storage, runs under a separate user. This means that under normal circumstances, applications cannot read another application’s data or internal storage. Each process uses its own virtual machine (VM) which segregates applications. Prior to API level 21 (Android 5), this would have been a Dalvik Virtual Machine, and in later versions will instead use the Android Runtime (ART). Both operate in similar fashions, where ...