What is with the constant updates?

[EdNerd]

I bought a used "unlocked" S20 FE 5g (upgrading from my S8). It's on Verizon about a week now.

Literally every other day I get a "security update will install on" notification. And the morning after the installation, my phone is not restarted until I wake it up.

When I check my phone software, it says the last security update was June 1, 2024. And the last Play system update was May 1, 2023!

Questions:

-- Can I make these both current now? If so, how??

-- Can I turn off the automatic incremental updates that interrupt my phone service, and implement a one-a-month manual update? If so, how??

Thank you!
Ed

 

[B. Diddy]

After you update each time, does the date of the latest security or Google Play system updates become later? The monthly security update should always change the date of the latest update, but it's not uncommon for Google Play system updates to keep the date of the latest update the same.

 

[EdNerd]

So I just installed Security Update software update 49 (instead of waiting two more days). After installing, I see:
-- Software Update Status >> Your phone has been updated to the latest software version
-- Security and privacy >> Updates >> Security update: July 1, 2024 (green checkmark)
-- Security and privacy >> Updates >> Play system update: May 1, 2023 (red checkmark)
-- Software Update >> History >> One patch applied yesterday morning, and the patch I just applied now.

And now it's offering to install software update 50+???

Is there any way I can dump a complete update and not have to constantly do this?
Is there a setting to turn this off until I want to update?

Edit: Just saw a link to an article that says the S20 series isn't supposed to be getting any more updates??

News - Samsung's Galaxy S20 series won't get any more monthly updates

As it turns out, the March 2024 security update was the last monthly update to reach the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. From here on out, the lineup will only be eligible for quarterly updates. Samsung's Galaxy S20 series won't get any more monthly updates : Read more

forums.androidcentral.com

 

[B. Diddy]

If you bought this used, it's possible that the previous owner stopped updating it a while ago. The phone may just be catching up on updates. Android updates typically aren't cumulative, so you often have to keep on updating until it's current or reached its final update.

 

[EdNerd]

Makes sense. If the seller wiped a four-year-old phone back to original condition, that could be a lot of updates! Especially if there isn't one large cumulative download. I'm up to #50 now - is there any way to know when this stops?

 

[B. Diddy]

It looks like the S20 FE 5G is still getting monthly security patches, so you should keep updating it until it reaches Oct 2024: https://www.sammyfans.com/2024/10/22/samsung-galaxy-s20-fe-5g-receives-october-2024-security-update/

 

[joeldf]

Makes sense. If the seller wiped a four-year-old phone back to original condition, that could be a lot of updates! Especially if there isn't one large cumulative download. I'm up to #50 now - is there any way to know when this stops?

That's not how that works.

"Factory reset", which is what's usually done on phones being sold, simply puts the OS in "first boot/start" or "out-of-box" condition - all settings reset to default, added apps gone, all accounts cleared out, and the OS ready for you to start using as if just opened from the box - but with whatever version OS is on it at that moment. There are no copies of the previous OS builds to roll back to. Otherwise internal memory would be totally full after a few OS version updates.

If the phone was not used at all for some time, it could be several security updates behind. As mentioned already, updates are not cumulative. So all past updates must come it one at a time until it's caught up. And, yes, because the FE came out late in the year compared to the regular S20 line, the FE does get one last security update, and I think October is it, but no more after that.