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Samsung Galaxy S21 still doesn’t support seamless Android updates
August 02, 2025
Don’t expect to quietly update yourGalaxy S21in the background while you move on to other tasks.9to5Google,Brandon Leeand others have discovered that the new Samsung phone series doesn’t support Android’s seamless updates despite hints Googlemight require the featurefrom Android 11 onward.
Samsung’s omission of seamless updates will leave you installing Galaxy S21 patches the old-fashioned way — that is, rebooting your phone and leaving it inoperable for minutes at a time. It might feel archaic, particularly when Googlefirst introduced seamless updatingwith Android 7.0 Nougat in 2016.
The company hasn’t explained why it isn’t using seamless updates with the Galaxy S21. We’ve asked Samsung if it can elaborate.
Related:Samsung has raised the bar for Android updates
Storage might play a role. Seamless updates in Android consume about 3GB of storage due to partitioning — Samsung may be reluctant to chew up that space, particularly when the Galaxy S21 family doesn’t offer microSD card support. The inconvenience may be worthwhile if it frees up valuable space for your apps and media.
This doesn’t preclude Samsung from introducing seamless updates in the future. We wouldn’t count on it, though, and it won’t be surprising if any change comes only when that 3GB of space becomes trivial for many users. For now, you’ll have to find something else to do while your Galaxy device installs patches — and time those upgrades accordingly.
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