All Android house owners warned to not ignore newest free software program replace | UK | News | EUROtoday

Android has come a good distance previously decade. When I first began professionally reviewing smartphones in 2016, I fell in love with the number of design and specs you’ll be able to select from relying in your finances, however one factor I couldn’t forgive was the final lack of software program updates.

Even main Android gamers resembling Samsung solely supplied two or possibly three years of software program updates on even their priciest handsets, and it wasn’t uncommon to see cheaper Android telephones get barely a 12 months of assist, leaving them susceptible to software program bugs and on-line hacks when their house owners ought to have been inspired to carry onto the units for so long as they had been useful.

Thankfully it’s a distinct story in 2026. Google and Samsung now supply seven years of software program updates for a lot of of their smartphones, whereas corporations resembling Honor and OnePlus have improved their software program guarantees too.

It means when you’ve got a contemporary Android telephone, you’ll get pleasure from month-to-month safety fixes within the type of free software program updates. These updates land within the settings apps of Android telephones, beginning with Google’s personal Pixel units. Because Google owns and maintains Android, it patches safety and privateness bugs and is ready to push out updates quickest to its personal telephones.

Google publishes a month-to-month Android Security Bulletin that publicly lays out what it has mounted within the newest Android replace. Once that is out, all Android producers are in a position to implement the fixes and push them out to their prospects’ units. It’s all on these Android manufacturers to ensure these software program updates attain your telephone.

If you may have an Android telephone, it’s a good suggestion to go to your Settings app and see when you’ve got any software program updates ready to be put in. This month’s replace could possibly be there for you, and one professional says you shouldn’t delay downloading it.

“Although the security bulletin released by Google is short, it addresses a serious and long-running flaw that Android users should not ignore,” stated Adam Boynton, Senior Security Strategy Manager EMEIA at Jamf, a safety agency. “The vulnerability was discovered in 2025; however, this fix means it has now been patched at the Android platform level.”

“The vulnerability, CVE-2025-54957, is a flaw in Dolby’s DD+ (Dolby Digital Plus) Unified Decoder that allows an attacker to run malicious code. Most notably, on Android OS, audio attachments and voice messages are decoded locally; therefore, the flaw can be exploited without any user interaction.”

This sounds ominous, although in actuality you might be most unlikely to be personally focused with any type of hack, even when you havent up to date your telephone this month. However, when you had been nonetheless utilizing a telephone from 2016 with no fashionable updates like I discussed beforehand, you’ll be huge open to a plethora of safety flaws that had constructed up through the years.

Smartphone updates are rather more frequent than they as soon as had been, and that may be a good factor.

“This month’s bulletin is a reminder that regular patching is one of the most effective ways to reduce mobile risk,” Boynton added. “Whether using Android or iOS, keeping devices updated remains the single best defence against modern mobile threats.”