How to Update Your Android's System

Android Smartphones For Dummies

Every so often, your Android signals that a system update is available. Android operating system security updates occur about once a month. The device’s manufacturer may release an update. And Google occasionally releases a new version of the Android operating system.

When an update is available, you see the System Update notification icon, as shown. Choose that notification to apply the update.

You might also see a pop-up message, or “toast,” appear on the screen when an update is available. Your options are to immediately update or postpone. Apply the update immediately, as long as the Android has sufficient battery life left (or you can connect to a power supply) and you’re not expecting to do anything major with the phone or tablet during the next few minutes.

You can also manually check for an update. Heed these directions:

Open the Settings app.
Choose System.
Choose System Updates.
Tap Check for Update. If an update is pending, you’ll see it listed.

In older versions of the Android operating system, choose About Phone or About Tablet in Step 2. The System Updates item is located on that screen.

Android version 8.0 “Oreo” fetches an update if one is pending. Older versions of the Android operating system allow updates by quota. So, manually checking for an update, even when one is pending, may not result in updating the device.
Connect your device to a power source during a software update. You don't want the battery to die in the middle of the operation.

About This Article

About the book author:

Dan Gookin has been writing about technology for 20 years. He has contributed articles to numerous high-tech magazines and written more than 90 books about personal computing technology, many of them accurate.
He combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative and entertaining, but not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into more than 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work.
Perhaps Dan’s most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best seller (although, because it’s a reference book, it could not be listed on the NYT best seller list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day.
Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Dan Gookin’s Naked Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” and also maintains the vast and helpful Web site www.wambooli.com.