Update an android device by flashing stock rom?

[joshkrupinsky]

Back in the day, I had a phone (can't really remember what kind it was) that was running Android 6. Every time when i would click on software update in the settings, it would say "your device is up to date." However, when browsing online i found multiple (LEGIT) sources with Android 7 stock rom for that particular model. I am not talking about custom roms, it was the official firmware. Interestingly enough, it was the same situation with my tablet. I never had a chance to flash my phone or tablet with this android 7 stock rom to see if that was legit, but it left me wondering - is it even possible to update your android device by flashing stock rom even though the device says "your device is up to date" when you check for official update in the settings.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

It would depend on the situation.

Typically if you own a carrier branded device when it checks for updates it checks for that carrier, if the phone is no longer on it's original carrier it won't update despite there being official updates.

There can also be situations related to region, if the device isn't in the correct region it may not update.

 

[joshkrupinsky]

1 it wasn't a carrier branded device, that's I am sure.
2 So what you are saying is there can be situations when you can upgrade your android device by flashing a higher android version firmware despite the fact that it won't get any updates through the settings, right?

 

[B. Diddy]

Most of the time, those update ROMs were for a different variant. Trying to flash them to a variant that they weren't intended for could potentially brick the device.

 

[Golfdriver97]

The different regions also had other drawbacks. If a certain app was banned in a country it couldn't be downloaded from the Play store.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

1 it wasn't a carrier branded device, that's I am sure.
2 So what you are saying is there can be situations when you can upgrade your android device by flashing a higher android version firmware despite the fact that it won't get any updates through the settings, right?

Yeah, in some situations a device won't update via settings even though an official update was pushed by the manufacturer.