Does An Android System Version Update On Your Phone Mess Up Your Phone

When does an old smartphone become unsafe to use?

How long should yous hold on to your phone?

For smartphones, the answer is less a matter of physical age (except insofar as the user wants certain telephone capabilities) and more near what kind of software the telephone can run and whether that software has the latest known vulnerabilities patched.

In that respect, iPhones and Android phones differ greatly, although the gap between the two is narrowing.

Mobile-device security resides in the software more than it does in the hardware. That's considering hardware changes somewhat more slowly, and also because the kinds of attacks most prevalent in the by several years take focused on stealing coin rather than exploiting hardware, said Chet Wisniewski, a senior security counselor at Sophos Canada in Vancouver.

Smartphone users, Wisniewski said, tend to let their phones update software automatically, when the phones can. That'southward particularly true for iPhones. But issues ascend as your smartphone gets older, especially if it's an Android device.

How long tin y'all safely employ an old iPhone?

Apple supports its smartphones for at least 5 years, sometimes longer, afterwards a model is released, giving the devices the latest versions of iOS and the latest patches to known vulnerabilities. That's pretty generous because that near people go a new smartphone every two or three years.

For example, if y'all are using an iPhone 6, released in September 2015, it might exist difficult to upgrade to iOS 14, released in September 2020. Simply you would be able to use iOS 13, released in September 2019.

The oldest iPhone that iOS xiv (and iOS 15) tin can run on is the iPhone 6s, from September 2015. Nosotros would take put coin on a bet that the iPhone 6s wouldn't be able to run iOS 15, but Apple tree surprised the states by giving the six-year-old phone (and the original iPhone SE) some other yr of life in September 2021.

There even so isn't a lot of iOS malware out there, so your chances of getting infected are slim, fifty-fifty if you do apply an iPhone that'southward more than half dozen or seven years erstwhile. Only information technology'south better to be safety than sorry, especially when Apple makes upgrading the operating organisation so easy and user-friendly.

As of Jan 2022, according to Apple's own figures, roughly 72% of iPhone users had upgraded to iOS 15 and were receiving periodic security updates — but that was only on devices less than five years old. Perhaps Apple tree doesn't desire to reveal how many people are still safely using iPhones that are even older.

How long tin yous safely use an old Android phone?

Gauging an Android telephone's safety-use limits tin can be harder, as Android phones are non as standardized as iPhones.

A couple of years ago, an Android phone wouldn't get any more security updates if it was more than than iii years old, and that's provided information technology can even get all the updates before then. After three years, you lot were better off getting a new telephone.

That's now inverse. Google, Samsung and chipset maker Qualcomm in late 2020 and early 2021 all committed to providing four years of security updates for some devices.

Google after upped that to five years of security updates for its Pixel 6 and Pixel half dozen Pro phones, although the devices, similar all Pixel phones, would become only 3 years of Android OS updates.

For Qualcomm, it means that all phones with Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, outset with the Snapdragon 888 that appeared on many 2021 flagships, volition go four years of security updates and three Android version upgrades.

Qualifying phones include the Xiaomi Mi 11, the OnePlus 9 and, well, the Samsung Galaxy S21.

Equally for Samsung, it now guarantees four years of security updates for all Samsung Galaxy phones released in 2019 and afterwards, starting time with the Galaxy 10 and Galaxy Notation 10 series. This includes Galaxy phones that aren't using Qualcomm chipsets.

Overall, the product bike on Android phones is less consequent than on iPhones. There are hundreds of smartphone makers that use (and alter) Android. It's still less than certain, for example whether an old handset volition run the latest version of the Bone 2 years after the phone's introduction.

Merely Google'southward own Pixel devices are guaranteed to get the latest Android security updates on the day the updates are released, although the latest Samsung, OnePlus and Motorola devices are oft not far behind. Google has a timeline of how long each Pixel device will become updates on its support site.

For example, the current version of Android, Android 12, released in October 2021, won't run on phones that have less than 2GB of RAM. Nor is Android 12 supported on the Google Pixel 3, which was released in October 2018.

However, the original Pixel, released with Android 7 Nougat in October 2016, did get Android 10 in September 2019, and its concluding official Android security updates in December of that year.

The Pixel 2, released in October 2017, got its concluding official update in December 2020, but it could exist updated to Android 11. (Those who bought Google'south Preferred Intendance service program got updates until April 2021.) Pixel 2 owners who want to keep their phones live should bank check out the Lineage OS project, which ports Android updates to older devices.

Samsung'southward own security-update chart shows the company already gives a longer period of support than Google does, even with pre-2019 models. You might go nearly iv years of updates with Samsung's older flagships.

For example, the Samsung Milky way S8, released in April 2017, is done with updates. Just its Lite version, released a few months later, even so gets biannual security updates as of March 2022. Both phones shipped with Android 7 Nougat and can exist upgraded to Android ten.

The Samsung Milky way S9 and S9+, released in March 2018, were on Samsung's quarterly-update track as of March 2022, although they go only upward to Android 10 officially. They've probable got several more months of security updates, as phones often move to the biannual-update track before going completely out of support.

The oldest Samsung Galaxy phones to be on the monthly update cycle are the Galaxy 10 and Galaxy Note 10 series, both launched in the start half of 2019. Per Samsung's recent support statement, they should exist good to use until the middle of 2023.

Credit: Shutterstock — (Epitome credit: Shutterstock)

Another problem with Android devices is that older versions of the Android OS stick effectually for a lot longer than they should, as phone makers often send second-tier or budget phones without the latest version of Android.

Because of this, many users starting time from behind and fall even further back as manufacturers, carriers and users themselves fail to implement organisation updates.

In February 2022, per Statista, Android 11 was running on 37% of Android devices, Android 10 had a 24% marketplace share, and Android ix Pie had an 12% share. Even so, the current Android 12 wasn't running on enough phones to annals.

That's simply about 60% of Android devices getting regular updates, at least in theory. Yet, it'southward much better than what we saw in April 2017, when only a third of Android devices were running supported OS's.

This leaves as many as forty% of Android devices worldwide running older versions that no longer become security updates. Those phones, hundreds of millions of them, were and are inherently dangerous to employ.

Google generally supports the two previous versions of Android forth with the current version. So in March 2022, that meant Android versions 12, xi and 10 were getting security updates when installed on Pixel phones and other phones whose makers supply those updates.

How long tin can you safely use an onetime 'impaired' cellphone?

One might actually exist safer using a cellphone that predates smartphones, or a latter-mean solar day "feature" telephone, instead of an out-of-appointment smartphone.

"I quite like the thought of carrying a 'dumb' phone from the late 1990s rather than a smartphone of today," said Graham Cluley, a security analyst who has worked in the field for more than than 20 years.

"If all I want [the telephone] to practise is send text messages and make calls, chances are that it will not just accept piddling fear of malware — it will also accept a lot improve bombardment life to boot."

An ancient Nokia candy-bar or flip phone, lacking a browser, would be safe from most internet-based attacks, since information technology would be effectively invisible to internet-connected devices. Simply that safety eliminates the ability to do anything on the internet every bit well.

Alas, those one-time phones aren't invulnerable, considering old malware never really goes away.

"There is yet code on erstwhile phones, and it may have been effectively abandoned and therefore unpatched," said Steve Santorelli, manager of analysis and outreach for Lake Mary, Florida-based threat-intelligence firm Squad Cymru. "We're still seeing newly discovered issues that have actually been around for many years, but only but discovered by researchers."

The reason the quondam impaired phones are less vulnerable is considering they're no longer attractive targets, not because of whatsoever inherent superiority.

You could consider one of the newer feature phones, such equally the Nokia 2720 V Flip or its adorable cousin, the Nokia 3310. Both run stripped-downwardly variants of Android.

The right way to bargain with aging phones

"The culling, and arguably the better selection," Santorelli said, "is to have a smartphone, but ensure it'southward fully patched with one of the best password managers, and a user with some awareness of threats and ways to guard confronting them. Ii-factor hallmark will also keep you out of problem a lot of the time."

In that sense, Santorelli said, patches are crucial, even for tertiary-party apps that aren't role of the operating system.

"Every mobile operating system and nigh applications volition come out with patches all the time," he said. "Researchers discover holes in software and developers fix them, hopefully, earlier likewise many hackers start to use them to compromise your system."

Then update those apps every time the Google Play or iOS app stores tell you lot to. Accept the upgrades to the latest operating-arrangement versions when they arrive. Install and use i of the best Android antivirus apps on your Android device. (Sad, merely that doesn't exist for iOS.)

And if your smartphone no longer gets OS updates or security patches, and so it's time to move on. Here's the safest way to get rid of an old smartphone.

Updated with new operating-arrangement versions, phone models and statistics. This story was beginning published in April 2017.