Force an Android Device to Find an Update
Android phones are the top-selling devices in the world today with Google recently announcing that they are currently activating 1.3 million handsets every single day.
With all of the different versions of the mobile operating system and all of the different carriers it can become easy to get confused, especially with updates to the OS. On top of that, carriers roll out updates on a staggered basis, likely to prevent a hit to their network resources.
What makes updates on Android that problematic is that different manufacturers used different systems to reveal the version of the operating system to the user and to run update checks.
The majority of devices support manual update checks. How that is done depends on the device, but it is usually an option in the Settings. You may find About Phone > System Update > Check Now listed there, or System > System update.
Since it is not possible to list all available paths, it is necessary that you browse the settings of the device that you use to find the option. Feel free to reply with a comment below to highlight the path on the device.
The manual update check queries an Internet server to find out if an update is available. One issue that you may run into is that most companies use staggered releases. Â Even if your phone has an update available, if your carrier hasn't yet scheduled your device then this method alone will not find that update.
To fix this there are a few simple additional steps required. Â It's also worth noting that this fix doesn't always work on the first try. Â In a recent update it took me two tries, but some users have reported it working the first time, while others have said it took many attempts.
Before following the above mentioned steps try first heading into Settings and then Apps and click the show All.
Again, the path may be slightly different on your device. You may have to click on Apps & Notifications > App info to list all apps.
Now, scroll down to find Google Services Framework and click on it. Â Click the Clear Data button and OK it then click Force Stop and OK again.
Google Services Framework has been renamed to Google Play Services in newer versions of the Android operating system. If you can't find Google Services Framework installed on your device, locate Google Play Services instead and clear its data and force stop it.
Now follow the steps for checking for an update. Â If this was successful then the System Update page should now reflect a very old date (likely in 1969) as the time of the last check. Â If it does not then you will need to repeat the clear data steps again.
While users of iOS and Windows Phone may all be in lock-step with their OS versions, those on Android have become accustomed to the fragmentation, but for many it's worth it because of the customization and variety of devices available.  Learning  a few tricks has just become a part of the Android landscape.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?