Why do I see too many surfaceflinger screenshot entries in logcat?

Question

On my device, I see the following entries in the logcat:

06-01 13:08:12.062  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (StatusBar#0)
06-01 13:08:12.167  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.271  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.378  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.404  2135  2205 I BufferQueue: [unnamed-2135-34](this:0x7639f47000,id:34,api:0,p:-1,c:-1) BufferQueue core=(2135:/system/bin/surfaceflinger)
06-01 13:08:12.404  2135  2205 I BufferQueueConsumer: [unnamed-2135-34](this:0x7639f47000,id:34,api:0,p:-1,c:2135) connect(C): consumer=(2135:/system/bin/surfaceflinger) controlledByApp=false
06-01 13:08:12.486  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.599  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:12.599  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.705  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:12.705  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (Splash Screen com.android.settings#0)
06-01 13:08:12.810  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:12.918  2135  2135 I chatty  : uid=1000(system) /system/bin/surfaceflinger identical 1 line
06-01 13:08:13.025  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:13.133  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:13.240  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:13.347  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:13.454  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:13.775  2135  2135 I chatty  : uid=1000(system) /system/bin/surfaceflinger identical 3 lines
06-01 13:08:13.903  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:14.011  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:14.115  2135  2135 I chatty  : uid=1000(system) /system/bin/surfaceflinger identical 1 line
06-01 13:08:14.222  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:14.329  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:14.436  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:14.564  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:20.084  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:20.193  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:20.299  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:20.426  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:21.301  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)
06-01 13:08:21.428  2135  2135 I SurfaceFlinger: screenshot (com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$DevelopmentSettingsDashboardActivity#0)

Whenever I do something on the screen, loads of more surfaceflinger screenshot entries appear. I wonder if there is anything spying or this has some simple explanation.

Any help understanding why these entries keep appearing?

Can you update your question with the system specs like manufacturer and other basic details ..? — AgentP, Jun 17 '20 at 15:12

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 17 '20 at 16:40

To quote from an answer for a question-related to android-surfaceflinger

SurfaceFlinger is an Android system service, responsible for compositing all the application and system surfaces into a single buffer that is finally to be displayed by the display controller.

So it's just allocating the frame buffer. And the developers who worked on that kept those logs. And as you mentioned there are logs with screenshots word in them which might be the reason for your worries.

So to keep it simple there is no need to worry about these logs.

I wonder if there is anything spying ?

I checked my device and on an emulator, there are logs coming from my devices also so if it was caused due to some spying things then it would have appeared on your device only and not on my devices or emulators. If it was spying then it would be known by the world today. Everyone is concerned about privacy today. So you don't need to worry about those logs

For your reference : android-surfaceflinger

Google's Open Source Files Related To Surface Flinger

Here are some of the logs from my device

Thanks for these details mainly for showing that you're also getting these entries on your device. But that doesn't guarantee there is nothing spying. This answer can be authoritative (and deserves bounty) only if it can locate the source code in AOSP that prints this log entry or quotes confirmation from developer from AOSP team. — rpattabi, Jun 18 '20 at 05:45

Why do I see too many surfaceflinger screenshot entries in logcat?

1 Answers1