Category: Android Security Update

As expected today, Google has released the May 2018 Android Security Update for the Pixel and Nexus devices.  The update, which consists of two patches, is rolling out now to compatible Google devices.  With it being the Monday of the first full week of the new month, it was expected we would see these patches land today.

As has become the norm, there are two patches for this month’s Android Security Update.  The first, dated May 1, 2018, consists of 7 patches, all of which are marked as High priority.  The patches in this build deal with general Android items like frameworks, runtimes and other base elements to the platform.

A few days after the unlocked variant of the Essential Phone began receiving its latest update, now too is the Sprint enabled version of the PH-1.   The update is the same as it was for the unlocked version of the phone, bringing the same updates and improvements to the only carrier locked version of the Essential Phone.

The update brings the April Android Security Update patch to the phone which, despite being a few days behind the unlocked variant, still makes it one of the first to get updated to the latest security patches.  Also, the software to enabled Bluetooth 5.0 is in this update.  The radios for 5.0 have been in the PH-1 all along but were not enabled via the software on the device.  That now changes with this update.

Google has released the April 2018 Android Security Update for devices, bringing a massive 311 different fixes and patches to the platform.  As normal, there are two patches that are available.  The first patch, dated April 1, mostly deals with Android system level patches while the second, data April 5, is for components updates aimed at the Pixel lineup of phones.

To have this many patches in one update is rare.  Most of the updates over the past few months have had less than 50 total updates across both patches.  This month however, there are well over 100 patches just for the Qualcomm closed source components.

With the release of the March Android Security Update patches earlier today, the opportunity has come to test the Check for update button on Pixel devices.  And guess what?  It works again.

The saga of the Check for update button has been going on for months – really years if you take in the fact that it has never really done anything in the past.  That changed late last year when Google indicated that the button would actually go tap the update servers in Google and give you the latest update for your Pixel or Nexus.  Then an update to Google Play Services broke it.  Then a new beta of Google Play Services was released with the explicit indicator that it fixed the issue.  But that update came out after the February Android Security Update patches.  So today was the first real opportunity to test it.

While everyone’s attention this week has been focused on the events at Mobile World Congress, Verizon rolled out a bunch of updates to Samsung devices and a few Moto devices on their network.  The majority of the updates are focused on bringing the February Android Security Update to the Samsung devices as well as other minor tweaks and updates.  The Moto Z devices are getting the December patch.

Here is the rundown of the phones that Verizon updated this week along with the new build numbers.  I’ve linked to the release notes for each build that the carrier has published.

• Galaxy S8: NRD90M.G950USQS2BRB1
• Galaxy S8+: NRD90M.G955USQS2BRB1
• Galaxy Note 8: NMF26X.N950USQS3BRB1
• Galaxy S6: NRD90M.G920VVRS4DRB1
• Galaxy S6 Edge: NRD90M.G925VVRS4DRB1
• Galaxy S6 Edge+: NRD90M.G928VVRS3CRB2
• Galaxy Note 5: NRD90M.N920VVRS3CRB2
• Moto Z Play: NDNS26.118-23-12-7-1
• Moto Z2 Play: NDSS26.118-23-19-3

In all cases, the updates have been released and should be landing on their respective devices via an OTA update this week.

Google is in the process of researching a new bug that is impacting Pixel 2 owners where rapid battery draining is occurring.  So far the Mountain View company hasn’t pinpointed the cause of the problem, which is not impacting all users.

A thread in the Google Product Forums, in the Pixel community, has been ongoing, particularly since the release of the February Android Security Update.  That appears to be when the issue began for several users although Google, right now at least, cannot find a correlation between the two, according to a source at 9to5Google.