Profiles

A profile is one carrier file’s settings in a shape every platform shares: an iOS carrier bundle, a Pixel CarrierSettings file or a Galaxy carrier pack, each read into the same fields. Pages and the API compare carriers across platforms through profiles, and show each file’s own settings through them too.

Fields

From packages/schema/src/types.ts:

Field	What
`source`	the source the file is: platform, kind (`carrier`, `country`, `default`) and name (`ios`, `carrier`, `ATT_US`)
`sha`	the SHA-256 of the file it was read from
`identity`	the name the file shows, its countries (ISO 3166), and the SIMs it claims
`apns`	its APNs, each with its types, protocols and where in the file it is
`concepts`	its value of each concept the platform can express
`raw`	every setting as the file states it: `carrier.plist:CarrierName` (Apple), `config:carrier_volte_available_bool`, `apns[0].apn` (Android)
`variants`	Apple only: what an MVNO configuration or a per-phone override file changes

A profile has no version; identical bytes shipped under several versions or builds are one profile.

Concepts

A concept is a setting that means the same on every platform: VoLTE, 5G Standalone, Wi-Fi Calling, an MMS size limit. There are 98, in 15 groups (packages/schema/src/concepts.ts). Each platform has a reader per concept, and a profile records for each concept one of:

Value	Meaning
state	`on`, `available` (a switch, or decided per plan or SIM) or `no`
value	a number, a string or a list
unset	the file leaves it unset

A concept the platform cannot express is absent. A state or value also names the settings it was read from, and how closely it matches: exact, derived (from several settings) or approx (the closest equivalent).

Variants

An Apple bundle changes per SIM and per phone. Each MVNOOverrides configuration is a variant selected by SIM rules, and each overrides_<boards>.plist a variant selected by boards (D93). A variant holds only the concepts and APNs that differ. A Pixel’s and a Galaxy’s files differ per device instead, so each device’s copy is a profile of its own and their variants are empty.

SIM identity

A profile’s SIMs are the rules its own file states: an iOS bundle’s SupportedSIMs, a Galaxy pack’s carrier list in omc.info. A rule is an MCC-MNC with at most a GID1, GID2, SPN, IMSI prefix or ICCID prefix, and has one key in the index: 310260, 310260|gid1=6D38. A Pixel file names no SIMs; carrier_list.pb routes SIMs to it, as Apple’s manifest routes them to a bundle. Those routing tables are routes rows, not part of a profile.

Content addressing

Kind of artifact	Stored at	Normalized to	Per step
`apple.ipcc`	`obj/<sha256>`	a profile	100
`android.carrier-settings`	`obj/<sha256>`	a profile	100
`samsung.omc`	`obj/<sha256>`	a profile	100
`android.modem-config`	`obj/<sha256>`	a modem configuration, its base and its band-combination lists	10
`apple.bbfw`, `apple.ftab`	`obj/<sha256>`	nothing
`android.carrier-list`	`obj/<sha256>`	nothing; its rules become `routes` rows

An artifact is stored once under the SHA-256 of its bytes, and its profile at norm/v8/<sha>.json, read from those bytes alone (8 is PROFILE_SCHEMA; modem configurations have their own MODEM_SCHEMA). When the profile’s shape changes, the schema number is raised and a reindex reads every held artifact again into the new norm/ prefix.

A bundle copied out of an iOS image is packed into an .ipcc deterministically, so identical copies from two IPSWs are one artifact.

Defaults

A carrier file sets only what differs from the phone’s defaults. What a phone reads for a feature its carrier leaves unset comes from the layers under it, first one that decides it:

Phone	Carrier file	Then	Then
Pixel	`<canonical name>.pb`	the build’s `default.pb`	AOSP’s `CarrierConfigManager` defaults
Galaxy	the pack’s IMS operator’s entries	the IMS service’s defaults (`defaultswitch`, `defaultsetting`)
iPhone	`carrier.plist`, with the phone’s override file	none

A layer either decides a state wholly, or only the part the carrier leaves open: a carrier file can offer a feature while default.pb says whether it starts on. Pages mark a state a layer decided, and which layer.