‘Googler-only’ November OTA rolls out to some Pixel 3 devices

Abner Li | Oct 31 2019 - 9:15 pm PT

Pixel 4 features coming to Pixel 3 and 3a

While the November security patch is officially expected on Monday, some Pixel 3 XL owners this afternoon have already received the update. These devices have accidentally been included in a Googler-only internal OTA.

From time-to-time, there are reports of regular devices receiving updates intended for internal testing by Google employees. In 2016, this led to a Nexus 6P owner getting an internal build of Android 7.0 Nougat before its official launch. The last reported occurrence was for the July 2019 patch on the Pixel 3a and brought the patch two weeks ahead of schedule.

Today’s Googler-only Pixel 3 OTA is another minor incident and just applies a newer Android 10 build with the next security patch that is not due until November 4th.

CONFIDENTIAL INTERNAL ONLY — This is a confidential Googlers-only OTA to update your device to Android 9 with July 2019 security patches and critical bugfixes. You may use your device normally but do not discuss or comment on this update externally. Send feedback to android-dogfood-discuss@. See go/release-faqs for more info!

Following the Pixel 4, this update should make third-party launchers compatible with the new gesture navigation system on all Android 10 Pixel devices. It will be the first update for Made by Google 2019 phones and address a slew of bug fixes. For example, a future update should let the 90Hz Smooth Display work in more lighting conditions. However, eye detection for face unlock is not expected for several more months.

The Googler-only Pixel 3 OTA looks to have rolled out this afternoon to a wider than usual swath of Pixel 3 XL devices. Many were alerted via system notification or realized they were updated after seeing next month’s security patch level.