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Current Nexus devices will not get Android N’s seamless updates
July 03, 2025
While some people loathe the idea of updates and the headaches that may come with – or after – installing them, it’s reasonable to assume a fair share of Android fans love getting new builds. Even so, the actual updateprocessitself can command quite a chunk of time due: After the actual file downloads, users then need to reboot the device and watch as it installs. The process can take an extremely long amount of time, especially in the days since Lollipop, where the OS proceeds to “optimize apps” before it’s ready to use.
One of this week’sGoogle I/Osoftware-related developments, it was announced that beginning withN,Android will start initiating seamless updatesthat allow the file to not only download in the background, but also install it. The magic is quite simple: Android N has two system partitions: When an update is found the update is installed to the secondary partition. Once you restart your device, the secondary partition switches over to being the main one.
There’s one problem however: Android Police, in an interview with the Android team, has learned that “Android N’s new seamless update feature…will not be introduced on any current Nexus devices”includingthe unofficial Nexus, the Pixel C.
The site had the following explanation to provide:
Perhaps even more concerning however, is what the author of the piece, David Ruddock, added next, in relation to the previously-assumed “fact” that seamless updates would be present on non-Nexus devices as well:
While this is obviously speculation on the writer’s part, it’s hard to argue with the logic, especially since italreadytakes OEMs extensive amounts of time just to produce the basic updates as things standnow. The idea of implementing a new way of updating user’s existing devices will seemingly cause untold amounts of trouble,
Be that as it may, this is perhaps the first time in Android history when Google has made it a point to shun all current Nexus devices with respect to a new feature being deployed with a new build of the mobile OS. In most cases, older products are simply not officially updated to newer builds and therefore are unable to access the features that would otherwise be made available. In this instance however, even something as recent as the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P will not be allowed to make use of the feature.
It remains to be seen just how fans will react to this news. Presumably some may not care at all, especially those who literally like to watch the update process unfold. At the same time, it’s probably a safe bet that at least some will take issue with the issue and call out Google for not being willing to try and mitigate the matter in a more meaningful way. Still, at the end of the day the last thing anyone wants is to have some – or ostensiblyall– of their data destroyed during a routine update – think monthly security patches – and it’s easy to see why Google is clearly erring on the side of caution.
What do you think?
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