Google is running two concurrent beta programs right now — one forAndroid 14and one for theJune Pixel Feature Drop— but that hasn’t stopped the company from pushing ahead on its stable channel updates. As fun as new features can be, security patches are more important from a practical standpoint, and the May 2023 update has now arrived to shore up weaknesses in Android 13 for Pixel phones.
As is tradition, Googlestarted seeding the updateon the first Monday of the month. For Pixel phones in particular, this new version contains a couple of bug fixes — notably, thePixel 7 Pro’s touch screen response laghas finally been addressed. The update sports a version number of TQ2A.230505.002 on all global variants of supported Pixel phones.
User Interface
*[1] Included on Pixel 7 Pro
Google also published theMay Android Security Bulletin, which outlines fixes for vulnerabilities in Android as a whole. This month’s bulletin is split into two patch levels: May 1 and May 5. Google does this to make it easier for individual phone OEMs to include these fixes in their own monthly patches, and as such, the first patch level contains fixes for Android OS vulnerabilities, while the second deals with vendor-specific vulnerabilities.
The May 1 bulletin has a total of 16 patches for common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) in the Android system and framework. Meanwhile, 29 vendor-specific CVEs were fixed in the May 5 patch level, and twoPixel-specific CVEswere addressed. In total, 47 CVEs have been plugged up, with none being deemed critical — only high and moderate severity, with the worst vulnerability potentially leading to privilege escalation only if an attacker had physical access to your device.
The update is rolling out now to Pixel phones, and all you have to do to get it is head toSettings -> System -> System update, then tapCheck for update. Depending on your carrier, there may be a slight delay in the new firmware’s availability — notably, T-Mobile Pixel users have had to wait an extra week or two for the last few updates to become available. If you’re in a rush, there’s alwaysthe manual methodof flashingthe factory imagesor sideloadingthe OTA.
