The May 2020 security update is now available for Pixel devices.
Like clockwork, on the first Monday of the month, Google releases the new security update for the Pixel. This time it goes all the way back to the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. So if you have a Pixel 2 or newer, you should see a new update for your device in the coming days.
These are all going to be Android 10.0.0 files, so we’re not getting a new version of Android here, just some slight changes to make your device more secure. And less prone to being hacked. That’s always a good thing.
You can sideload the OTA images now
The OTA images and the factory images are now available to download. So even if you don’t get the OTA right away, you can download it and update your phone on your own.
The best way to do it, would be to download the OTA update, and then sideload it onto your phone. And we have instructions on how to do that here.
This is because the OTA update only has the files that were changed. Making the zip a lot smaller than the full factory image. Not to mention the fact that it does not erase all of the data on your phone, and it is also a whole lot faster to flash than a whole factory image, which is going to be several gigabytes.
The OTA might hit your device today, or next week
Google hasn’t had the best track record of sending out these updates within a day or two of announcing the security patch. Sometimes we see the update come out the same day or the next day. Other times, it’s been towards the end of the month that people start getting the update.
Now, there’s a variety of reasons for this happening. Like Google finding an issue with the update and needing to fix a few bugs before sending it out to everyone. But hopefully, it won’t take very long to hit your device.
You can go into the Settings, tap on About Phone and then Check for Updates and see if you can pull down the update now. Of course, smashing that check for updates button doesn’t make the update come to you any sooner. So there’s no need to check for the update every few minutes – plus it’s just a security patch, nothing that exciting here.