Force Security Upgrade

[bcarpio]

Hi,

My company requires me to install a "Mobile Device Manager" on the Samsung Galaxy Fold3 Z they gave me on AT&T here in the USA; however it tells me I have an old version of the security Patch Sept 2021 and need the Jan 2022 patch. When I tell the phone to check for updates it tells me I'm on the latest software.

Has AT&T rolled out this new security patch? If so is there another way I can force the phone to check for it and install it?

 

[Hadron]

I had to take a guess at your exact model number, but if I got that right then according to Sammobile.com your phone is several software updates behind. Are you actually using it on the ATT network? If not that can cause problems with receiving updates for carrier-modified models.

In principle you can download the firmware from Sammobile and install it manually (needs a computer). Or, if this is a company phone, you could throw the problem back to their IT department because it's their hardware that isn't getting the updates.

 

[bcarpio]

Yes, this is a phone directly from AT&T and is bein used on the AT&T network. The problem with sending it back to IT is we all work remote and it will take weeks to ship them the phone, wait for them to do something about it, ship it back to me etc.. and I need this phone to access internal company services so for now I'm going to make it my problem for now.

I have a computer both PC and Mac so I can update it manually if I had the directions, do you know where I can find them?

 

[ocnbrze]

Yes, this is a phone directly from AT&T and is bein used on the AT&T network. The problem with sending it back to IT is we all work remote and it will take weeks to ship them the phone, wait for them to do something about it, ship it back to me etc.. and I need this phone to access internal company services so for now I'm going to make it my problem for now.

I have a computer both PC and Mac so I can update it manually if I had the directions, do you know where I can find them?

The link to the firmware is in @Hadron post above. SamMobile is where you want to go for firmware updates for Samsung phones.

 

[bcarpio]

I manually changed the month on the phone to April and tried to check for updates and now it seems to be downloading the latest update from AT&T.

 

[Hadron]

I manually changed the month on the phone to April and tried to check for updates and now it seems to be downloading the latest update from AT&T.

That is... odd. But hey, if it worked then don't knock it!

 

[svim]

There's a really complicated, twisted process involved with Android security patches that involves a lot of third-party reviewing and modifying. So while Google just keeps popping out those security patches each month, we (the consumer) may or may not actually receive or have any access to those patches. It all depends on your phone manufacturer, your carrier (some of the time), and your phone model, with a mix of one, two, or all three being a deciding factor. This article explains things better:
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-android-security-patch-updates-work/
Note that it is a couple of years old now and with each Android version upgrade Google is trying to take back more control from the manufacturers and carriers so we all get those monthly security updates on a regular basis, but there's an unavoidable legacy factor so it's still a situation where some models will be getting updates, some just a few, and some none at all. Samsung devices are for the most part being updated better now than just a couple of years ago so you should be OK for a while, but it's still a situation where you won't be able to access a monthly patch on that Fold as quickly if it was something like a Google Pixel.

 

[Hadron]

In my experience, until the last 2 months I was getting the monthly security patches on my s21 as quickly as the Pixels (often quicker than the Pixel 6 series). Whether the slower service the last 2 months had been due to the s22 series being released and the s21 no longer being top of the pile, or due to the One UI 4.1 roll-out, I can't say: if it reverts to updating at the start of the month I'll guess it was just the feature drop, otherwise I'll assume the other.

Of course my phone isn't carrier-branded, so I've one step fewer than the OP's device to go through. But the fact that they were still on September firmware but being told they were up-to-date, when I could see that there had been several update for the ATT Fold3 in the meanwhile (most recent in February) suggests some sort of glitch rather than just delays in the release process. The fact that setting the date to next month unjammed the pipeline does however make me wonder what sort of messed-up logic their update availability checking is using?!

 

[svim]

A screen capture of the Settings >> About phone >> Status showing the version info would help verify which month that Fold is currently updated with. Plus we don't know if it was actually triggered by changing the date, or if simply rebooting was what prompted it.