No Android Security Patches on 6P Since 12/05/16

ChipperD17

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Feb 1, 2017
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Kinda concerned but even more so, just curious...

I recently purchased and have been using a new Nexus 6P from Project Fi. It was activated on March 2nd and once connected via Wi-Fi, it immediately downloaded Nougat 7.1.1 (having come with Marshmallow which I'm assuming was the stock OS for this phone at the time of manufacture). FWIW, its build number is NMF26F and according to a Huawei, its serial number indicates a manufacture date of October 14, 2016. That makes me wonder when the last 6P models were manufactured; late 2016? According to a rep I spoke with at Huawei, they (Huawei) stopped selling the phone in early 2016 but apparantly continued to build units for Google. Anyhow...

As of today March 22, 2017, the Android security patch level is (still) dated December 5, 2016. It's not received any security updates at all since it was initially connected to the internet and ultimately activated thru Project Fi. I've tried clearing cache and a couple other possible remedies in order to get an update pushed out but no luck. I would have thought a more timely update would have been received by now as it's looking as if most 6P's have received the March 5 update.

Just curious... Is the OS it came with (in this case one with Marshmallow) installed at Huawei or Google? I'm assuming it's the latter. I noticed when I performed a factory reset that the update the phone received after it was first activated remained (Nougat 7.1.1), it did not revert back to its original Marshmallow OS. I'm guessing that when any updates are received, they're flashed to the phone's recovery image so any future factory resets include those updates?

Lastly, I have no problem with rooting, wiping, flashing or whatever it would take to get things working as they should; in this case, Android security updates. Being the phone is new, I'm not interested in voiding the warranty if that can be avoided. I've heard some say that unlocking the 6P's bootloader will void the warranty while others say it won't, that does not surprise me. I'm a total Android newbie, btw... just sayin'.
 

GSDer

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Jan 30, 2011
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It is strange that a brand new device, particularly one purchased from Google, would not be receiving current security updates.

Since you're part of Fi you should contact their support directly (either on the phone or via their online chat) and see what they have to say about the matter.

I assume that you don't only use it on Wi-Fi? You could turn Wi-Fi off temporarily and then check for updates just to be sure there isn't something weird going on there.

You could certainly flash the latest OTA image to get the current security updates without losing any data, but I'd go the Fi support route first.

Edit: you're quite correct that once you do any kind of OS update, if you subsequently do a Factory Reset it leaves you at that latest OS version. If for some reason you wanted to roll back to a previous OS version you'd have to flash the image for it.
 
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ChipperD17

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I had contacted Project Fi support and they weren't able to provide any explanation which is the main reason I'd posted my question here. They did say it can sometimes take up to 2 to 3 weeks for updates to be sent to any particular phone. I'm not sure how accurate that is but if that is the case, guess I'll find out in the next week or soon thereafter. If it hasn't received any of the security updates at that point, I'll look at some options as it'll be kind of obvious that something ain't right. Thanks for information!