How-To

How to Update Your Android Phone

By Brian Burgess

Updated April 15, 2024

It’s vital to keep your tech devices up to date and we’ll show you how to update your Android phone for features, stability, and security.

Like keeping your computer updated, ensuring you have the latest system updates on your Android phone is essential. You get security and feature updates and bug fixes when you update your phone.

While your Android phone should have automatic updates enabled, you can also update your device manually. In addition to getting security and bug fixes, you can enjoy the latest features that your friends or colleagues may already have on their phones.

Google and other manufacturers periodically send updates, and if it’s set to automatic, your phone will let you know an update is available. You can set it to update and restart while charging and not in use. Also, in addition to the phone, you want to update apps on Android for the security and stability of your Android experience.

How to Update Your Google Pixel

While automatic phone updates should be enabled, you can disable automatic system updates if you want more control. But nothing stops you from manually updating your Google Pixel using the following steps.

1. Swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap Settings (gear icon).
2. Scroll down and tap System from the menu.
3. Swipe down the menu and tap System update. It’s important to mention that you will see the currently running version of Android here.
4. If your phone is up to date, you will see a message confirming when it was updated and what version of Android it’s running.
5. To manually check, tap the Check for update button in the lower right corner of the screen.
6. If an update is discovered, you will get a message saying it won’t be installed until your phone isn’t being used.
7. If you want to continue installing the update anyway, click the Resume button in the lower right corner of the screen. Just remember you won’t be able to use your phone until the update process is complete.
8. Once the update downloads to your phone, tap the Restart now button to complete the process.

How to Update Your Samsung Galaxy Phone

Samsung does things differently and runs its proprietary One UI on top of Android. So, updating your phone varies compared to stock Android.

1. Swipe down from the top of your Samsung phone and tap Settings (gear icon).
2. Scroll down the screen and tap the Software update option from the menu.
3. Tap the Download and install option on the Software update screen.
4. If your Samsung is up to date, you will get a message letting you know. So, there’s nothing more you need to do other than check again later.
5. If a system update is discovered, your phone will show you information about it, and you can tap the Install now button at the bottom of the screen.
6. Your phone will reboot once or twice to complete the update. When you sign back into your phone, a notification will appear that lets you know the update was successful. Tap OK and start using your phone like you usually would.

Updating Your Android Phone

Whether you have a Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, or another Android phone from a different manufacturer, keeping it up to date is vital. System updates help if your phone is acting sluggish or buggy, you want new feature sets, and you want to ensure your phone is secure.

Unless you change the setting, apps will update regularly in the background. However, if you want to ensure your phone’s system OS is up to date, you can use the above steps to get it done.