Have Android updates gotten more confusing?

Ben Schoon | Oct 20 2024 - 9:00 am PT

This week’s release of Android 15 has been a weird one, but it’s also raised a question – are Android updates getting pretty confusing?

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For the past few years, Google’s strategy with Android releases has been to launch a stable version in the Fall, then build on that with further improvements in “Quarterly Platform Releases.” These are delivered to Pixel devices as quarterly Feature Drops – now being called “Pixel Drops” – and also rolled out to other Android devices over time as well with a lot less fanfare.

These updates are usually fairly minor, but occasionally deliver some pretty important features to users.

Google’s current strategy, though, has some pros and cons.

In the “pros” column, there are a lot of benefits to these updates for developers and for apps. Since QPR releases don’t come with an API bump, there’s a lot less work needed, which could easily get overwhelming if “.1” releases were happening four times a year.

There’s also a lack of obvious fragmentation. Since QPR releases don’t come with a number and can just be attached to a monthly security update, everything just has Android 15, instead of “15.1,” “15.2,” and so on. This is much easier to follow for OEMs too.

Those are obvious and big reasons that Google hasn’t released a “.1” update in several years, and it’s led to a state of Android where releases are indeed far less fragmented.

But, lately, it’s felt more and more like the lack of clear separation on these quarterly releases is leading to confusion. Trying to figure out which feature is available where is not super easy unless you’re paying very close attention (or looking at our in-depth breakdowns).

On Pixel, a quick and easy solution would probably be to add a marker for each QPR update somewhere in the system. The dedicated software updates page could have a simple mark noting which update you’re on, or another section alongside the monthly security patch version. As it stands today, the current system is leading to confusion even for the people who’s job it is to keep track of this stuff. The betas for Android 15 and Android 15 QPR1 were going at the same time, and as such, some features from QPR1 were thought by a lot of people to be coming in this week’s Android 15 release. A clear designation in the Settings menu, somewhere, could go a long ways in helping to make it more obvious which features are tied to specific updates.

I do wish we were in a place where a simple “Android 15.1” worked, like it does on iOS, but that’s highly unlikely to happen. It’d be easier to understand system features and when, and where, they’re available. The technical reasons here outweigh the user benefit for the most part, but I do hope we can find a better solution at some point.

What do you think?

This Week’s Top Stories

Android 15 is here

It’s been an odd year for the annual Android release, but following the Pixel 9 launch back in August, Google has finally launched Android 15. The update arrives with a bunch of new features on Pixel devices, as we’ve explained in-depth this week.

We’ve also got some tutorials on some of the most important features in Android 15.

Plus, Android 15 is also set to launch on more devices in the near future, as the update is launching in beta on some devices, and some brands are also showing off their takes on the update.