Verizon’s version of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, bearing the DROID branding, hit the network back in July. At that point, they both had the June security update and ran Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The two phones run the same software under the hood, and differ only in terms of their thickness, durability, and battery size. With that being the case, one would naturally assume that when one of them gets an update, the other will, too. As it turns out, that is correct; a software update came out on Monday for both phones, bringing the July security patch with it reportedly alongside some under-the-hood fixes.
Scattered reports of the update, as well as a picture are the only evidence of the updates thus far. Since Verizon and Motorola have yet to post anything about the update on their websites as of this writing, there is no way of knowing the scope of the update, the speed of the rollout, or what features may be in the update aside from some various fixes behind the scenes and, of course, the security patch update to the July level. The version number for the update is MCL24.246-36, and the update weighs in right around 436 MB so it’s a fairly good size. The whole thing should take about 20 minutes to download and apply from start to finish, although it could be more or less for some users, depending on a number of factors. With that being said, it’s always a good idea for users to download the update while connected to Wi-Fi and have more than 50 percent battery life.
The update brings the security patch level up to the July patch, but some users may find this unsatisfactory for a brand new flagship device. Right now, it is only a few days until the start of September, which will mean a new patch for Nexus users. The August patch will then be obsolete. This means that having the July patch on board will put Moto Z users two months behind. The kicker here is that Google releases the security patches to manufacturers many days in advance in most cases, to facilitate the manufacturer building and distributing the update around the same time as the Nexus devices’ updates.