The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series has started to receive the January 2021 Android security patch on American wireless carriers. Both Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are now picking up the latest Android security update on Verizon as well as AT&T.
Verizon is rolling out the new update with build numbers N986USQS1CTLC and N981USQS1CTLC for the two devices respectively. The software version for AT&T’s update for Galaxy Note 20 is N981USQS1CTLB and that for Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is N986USQS1CTLB.
This update doesn’t seem to bring anything new apart from the most up to date Android security patch to the two S Pen wielding Samsung Galaxy flagships. Both devices only recently received the big Android 11 update with One UI 3.0. That update brought in plenty of goodies to Samsung smartphones.
That said, the January 2021 Android security patch does contain fixes for a good number of critical and high-risk vulnerabilities found both in Android OS as well as Samsung’s One UI. Particularly, the latest security update fixes a major issue with the Galaxy Note 20 fingerprint scanner.
January update fixes a major fingerprint issue with the Galaxy Note 20 phones
According to Samsung’s official bulletin, the January 2021 Android security update contains the fix for an issue that caused “false recognition” of the fingerprint scanner. It was an issue with certain screen protectors that prevented the phone from reading fingerprints properly. This resulted in a high FRR (false rejection rate) of fingerprint identification.
Samsung says this issue only affected the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra devices running Android 10. The company has already pushed Android 11 to the two devices in most parts of the world. Additionally, the latest security update particularly fixes this issue as well. Samsung released the January security update for the unlocked Galaxy Note 20 units a couple of weeks back. Now carrier versions of the phones are also receiving the new update.
In addition to this issue, the January update also fixes one critical and dozens of high-risk vulnerabilities with Android OS. There are fixes for nine moderate and high-risk Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items as well. SVEs are software vulnerabilities exclusive to Samsung’s One UI only.
Galaxy Note 20 users on AT&T and Verizon should receive a notification to download the latest update over the air (OTA) in the coming days. You can also manually check for updates by going to the Software update section of your phone’s Settings app. T-Mobile units of the Galaxy Note 20 should also pick up the latest update in the coming days or weeks.