[Google Pixel Update📱] Android 15 May Security Update rolling out

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TL;DR

• The new Private Space feature introduced in Android 15 seems to be causing problems with Pixel 6 devices.
• Some users report that their device was bricked shortly after enabling the feature.
• It’s unclear how widespread the problem is.

Last week, Google rolled out Android 15 to all eligible Pixel devices. The update is packed with several new features, including a privacy tool called Private Space. If you have a Pixel 6 device, you might want to avoid enabling Private Space, for now, as some users claim it has bricked their phone.

For context, Private Space is a feature that carves out a space in your phone designed to be a separate and secure environment. Simply put, it’s like a digital safe that you can put your apps into if you want to hide them from prying eyes.
After updating to Android 15, some Pixel 6 users on Reddit report that their phones have been bricked. One user, GegoByte, claims that their Pixel 6 was bricked after enabling Private Space and attempting to open an app they installed in it. Some commenters on that same thread say their devices bricked too after the Android 15 update, but did not mention enabling Private Space. However, Homer_95, claims that their Pixel 6 Pro died sometime after they enabled Private Space.

It’s unclear if Private Space is indeed the culprit here or if there’s some other issue with Android 15. But some Redditors theorize the issue could have something to do with Private Space operating as a new user profile, similar to the multi-user profile bug that happened with Android 14.

It’s unknown how widespread this issue is. For what it’s worth, these are only a few reports. Android 15 and Private Space are working just fine on my own Pixel 6 Pro. However, we have reached out to Google for comment on the situation. We’ll update this article when new information is available.

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Android 15 blocks untrusted apps from reading sensitive notifications, even if they have permission to read all notifications.
• Before Android 15, apps with notification access were able to read all incoming notifications, even ones with OTP codes.
• Now, though, only certain trusted apps can read OTP codes from notifications.

 

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[mr168]

got an update for the weather app and all is good now!

 

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Google has yet to roll out the November 2024 update for Pixel devices, but Verizon this evening has detailed what’s coming and it’s a more sizable release for the Pixel 9 series.

According to the US carrier, the release date should have been today (11/05/2024). It usually comes on Monday, but Google hasn’t announced anything in the past 48 hours. The Android 15 update arrived in the middle of last month.

The biggest updates are for the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold (AP3A.241105.008):

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Security: Provides the most up to date Android security patches on your device.

Bluetooth: Addressed an issue with Bluetooth range under certain conditions.

Camera: Addressed an issue with camera tilt when zooming between cameras under certain conditions.

Sensors: Addressed an issue that occasionally prevented Adaptive brightness from activating in certain conditions.

Touch: Addressed an issue when pressing the keyboard dismiss button in certain conditions.

User interface: General improvements for performance and stability in certain UI transitions and animations.

Display & Graphics: Resolved an issue that caused white dots to flash under certain conditions.

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Meanwhile, there are just two November 2024 update changelog entries for the Pixel 6, 7, and 8 series (AP3A.241105.007):

• The most up to date Android security patches on your device.
• General improvements for performance and stability in certain UI transitions and animations.

A release this week by Google is likely.

 

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November 2024 Android Security Update Available for Google Pixel Devices​

Following up the massive Android 15 update from last month for all of Google’s still-supported Pixel devices, we have the November Pixel update rolling out with the latest Android security patches.

As for which devices are getting the November Pixel update, it should be just like the Android 15 update for October, barring some surprise from Google. The full list includes the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet. The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold are all included as well.

The November Pixel update builds to be on the lookout for are below, and there’s just one for all devices as a Global build this time around.
Global

• Pixel 6: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 6 Pro: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 6a: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 7: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 7 Pro: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 7a: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel Tablet: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel Fold: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 8: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 8 Pro: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 8a: AP3A.241105.007
• Pixel 9: AP3A.241105.008
• Pixel 9 Pro: AP3A.241105.008
• Pixel 9 Pro XL: AP3A.241105.008
• Pixel 9 Pro Fold: AP3A.241105.008

November Pixel Bug Fixes: As far as fixes go, we detailed this list yesterday, but Google has confirmed that the update aims at Bluetooth, Camera, display & graphics, sensors, touch, and user interface bugs that needed addressed.

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Bluetooth

• Fix for issue with Bluetooth range under certain conditions*[3]

Camera

• Fix for issue observing camera tilt when zooming between cameras under certain conditions*[3]

Display & Graphics

• Fix for issue causing white dots to flash under certain conditions*[3]
• Fix for issue with screen brightness flickering under certain conditions*[2]

Sensors

• Fix for issue occasionally preventing Adaptive brightness from activating in certain conditions*[3]

Touch

• Fix for issue in pressing the keyboard dismiss button in certain conditions*[3]

User Interface

• General improvements for performance and stability in certain UI transitions and animations*[1]

———————————–

• *[1] Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold
• *[2] Pixel 8a
• *[3] Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold

Google (and its carrier partners like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T) will begin pushing these updates over-the-air shortly (Settings>System>System update), but if you don’t want to wait for Google and prefer to update manually, you will soon find each factory image or OTA file at the links below.

Links:

• Factory Images
• OTA Files
• Pixel/Nexus Security Bulletin
• Pixel Security Update Changes

 

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TL;DR

• The adaptive refresh rate (ARR) feature in Android 15 enables the display refresh rate to adapt to the frame rate of content.
• The ARR feature reduces power consumption and jank as it lets devices operate at lower refresh rates without the need for mode switching.
• While previous versions of Android supported multiple refresh rates, they did so by switching between discrete display modes.

It’s not just the best Android phones that have fast displays these days. Most mid-range and flagship Android phones have a display with a refresh rate above 60Hz, and that’s even true for many budget phones as well. However, most of these phones only refresh at a few fixed rates like 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz, as their displays don’t support variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. Some phones do have displays capable of VRR, but it turns out that Android itself hasn’t had true VRR support — at least not until now.

According to Google, Android 15 is the first version of Android that supports adaptive refresh rate (ARR), which is synonymous with variable refresh rate. Before Android 15, the operating system supported multiple refresh rates via refresh rate switching. Basically, the operating system would tell the display to switch between various display modes it supported such as 1080p@60Hz and 1080p@90Hz. It would try to do this intelligently, of course, by tracking what kind of view is displayed, but it was never truly adaptive. With the introduction of adaptive refresh rate in Android 15, though, the refresh rate can not only adapt to the content frame rate but also change the refresh rate within one display mode.

Google says that the adaptive refresh rate feature in Android 15 has two primary benefits. First, it reduces power consumption by enabling devices to “operate at rates lower than their maximum refresh rates, transitioning to higher rates only when essential for the user experience, which minimizes unnecessary power consumption.” Second, ARR improves performance by eliminating the need for changing display modes, which Google says is a “known cause for jank.”

How Adaptive Refresh Rate works in Android 15. Source: Google.

I’m sure some of you are wondering whether this adaptive refresh rate feature is actually new. After all, smartphone companies have been touting variable refresh rate as a core feature enabled by the introduction of LTPO displays for years now, so what gives? I’m admittedly not too well-versed in display technology, but my understanding is that even these devices have never supported true VRR on Android in the way that PC gamers are familiar with. Android devices with LTPO OLED displays, for example, can’t sync the refresh rates of their displays with games like many PCs can.

Instead, the introduction of LTPO backplanes to OLED displays simply made it more power efficient to drive those OLED displays at lower refresh rates. That allowed for Android devices with LTPO OLED panels to run at 1Hz or even 10Hz when needed, widening the range of available refresh rates. However, these refresh rates were still tied to discrete display modes that were toggled by Android through the Hardware Composer (HWC) hardware abstraction layer (HAL), which in turn made calls to lower-level display software. Therefore, even on devices with a true VRR/ARR panel, the Android OS would still change the refresh rate by changing the display mode.

According to display analyst Dylan Raga, some Android devices can already change refresh rates within the same display mode, but their OEMs had to implement support for this at the kernel level. The problem with this approach is that each OEM would need to write its own logic for when to ramp down the refresh rate. This is challenging not only because of Android’s Generic Kernel Image requirements but also because the kernel has less insight than the OS about exactly what content is showing.

That’s why Android 15 implementing proper support for VRR/ARR at the HAL level is important, as it provides a unified way to ramp down the refresh rate using information and hints that are more readily available to the OS. In order to enable VRR/ARR, though, OEMs must not only support the requisite kernel and system changes on devices running Android 15 or later but also implement version 3 of the HWC HAL APIs.

I don’t know which, if any, devices running Android 15 support adaptive refresh rate, but I do know some devices already support version 3 of the HWC HAL. The Google Pixel 7 and later, as well as phones powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, have the updated HWC HAL version, whereas the Google Pixel 6 series and phones powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 do not. It’s likely that many phones that receive an OTA update to Android 15 won’t get support for the updated HWC HAL due to the effects of the Google Requirements Freeze (GRF) program, but even if they do, there’s no guarantee they’ll support Android 15’s adaptive refresh rate feature.

When this adaptive refresh rate feature does get enabled on Android devices, it’ll hopefully lead to more apps actually making use of lower refresh rates. One example brought up by Dylan Raga is how most Android phones currently sit at 60Hz instead of 30Hz or 24Hz when a film is playing, something that this feature could fix. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that this feature will bring PC-like game refresh rate syncing to Android, as Google’s documentation notes that the feature only allows for the panel to run at refresh rates that are “divisors of the panel’s tearing effect (TE).” Hopefully Google shares more details on this feature and reveals whether it’s enabled on any of its existing Pixel devices, as it’s long overdue.

 

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Google released the December Pixel update this morning and it happens to be the stable version of Android 15 QPR1 that we have been testing since August. These QPR builds are typically quite large, and that’s the case again here. In addition to this being a massive update, it also happens to be the December Pixel Feature Drop with 20+ changes to the entire Pixel portfolio.

As a part of the announcement for this latest drop, Google says to expect rollout to begin as early as today, December 5. Of course, your carrier may slow things down some, but you can start checking for the update right away if you aren’t on some other QPR2 beta or Android 16 Developer Preview build.

As for which devices are getting the December Pixel update, it should be just like the Android 15 update for October and the November patch, barring some surprise from Google (like the Pixel 5a last month). The full list includes the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet. The newest members of the family, the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold are all included as well.

We’ll have further details on the update shortly and will update this post.

Google (and its carrier partners like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T) will begin pushing these updates over-the-air shortly (Settings>System>System update), but if you don’t want to wait for Google and prefer to update manually, you will soon find each factory image or OTA file at the links below.

Links:

• Factory Images
• OTA Files
• Pixel/Nexus Security Bulletin
• Pixel Security Update Changes

 

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[kEvinErd]

Quite a big update - almost 800mb on my Pixel 9 Pro XL. Looking forward to see how the new Adaptive Refresh Rate improves the battery life!

 

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A bug in the stable release of Android 15 QPR1 on Pixel devices flips the light and dark Themed icons.

With the system light theme, the dark variants of Themed icons are displayed. It’s also worth noting that the background is lighter than before.

Android 15 (November) vs. 15 QPR1

When the system dark theme is enabled in QPR1 (December), you get light Themed icons. This is clearly a bug that Google should address in a future update. There doesn’t seem to be anything users can do right now to fix it.

With QPR1 Beta 3, Google tweaked the color of Themed icons: With the system dark mode, icons were appreciably lighter. In light mode, the inner icon became slightly brighter. Google reverted the change in QPR2 Beta 1, so the original look is presumably the intended behavior.

Hopefully, Google will address this Themed icons bug with Android 15 QPR1’s January security patch.

 

[xonix]

I'm glad Google came to their senses

https://www.androidauthority.com/pixel-camera-9-7-quick-access-controls-3506245/

 

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