It only took Samsung 8 years to add this handy Android feature

Summary

• Samsung finally adds seamless updates starting with Galaxy A55, ensuring quick software installation without downtime.
• Since the firmware is installed in the background, restarting the Galaxy A55 after downloading an update does not bring up the One UI installation screen.
• Future Samsung devices should also have support for seamless updates.

Google introduced seamless updates with the debut of the first Pixel phone in 2016. This feature allows the phone to install a software update in the background, with only a restart required to apply the changes, ensuring little downtime. Despite the feature being around for years, Samsung — the world’s largest Android smartphone vendor — has yet to adapt it. In a surprising move, the Korean giant has finally added support for seamless updates, starting with the Galaxy A55.

Reports from SamMobile and The Mobile Indian claim downloading a new firmware update on the Galaxy A55 shows a “downloading and installing” message. The progress bar is split into two, with the second one for “Verification.” Once the phone has installed the firmware, a Restart now button will appear, tapping on which will reboot the phone to apply the changes.

Typically, Samsung phones show a One UI installation screen when they reboot to install a new firmware. But as per reports, no such screen appeared on the Galaxy A55, with the phone directly booting into the OS running the new firmware. The restart duration is also notably faster, as the phone does not update the system files during this process like before.

Future Samsung Galaxy devices should also support seamless updates

It is surprising that Samsung chose the Galaxy A55 and not the Galaxy S24, its flagship phone of 2024, which launched less than two months ago, as the launch device for seamless updates.

On the plus side, the company has adopted the feature at the right time. Google made some improvements to seamless updates in late 2023, which reduced the installation time of new OS builds on Pixel phones by as much as 10 minutes. This fixed one of the major annoyances with the feature, as otherwise, Pixel phones took an unusually long time to install updates in the background.

Given that support for seamless updates requires virtual A/B partitions to work, Samsung is unlikely to bring the feature to the Galaxy S24 series. Technically, this is possible by repartitioning the internal storage. But since there’s a possible risk of data loss, the Korean giant is unlikely to go ahead with this move.

On the bright side, future Samsung devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 should support this handy feature, enabling them to quickly install system updates in the background.