What you need to know
- Google has announced the monthly security patch for October 2020.
- It has a firmware date of 2020-10-05.
- Pixel phones get a bunch of fixes for various sensors and system UI bugs.
As with any new month, the start of October brings a new Android security patch with it. The October 2020 one has just been unveiled by Google, and as per usual, it's a fairly small bit of software.
This month's update addresses a bunch of Qualcomm vulnerabilities, and while that's not stuff you'll ever notice in day-to-day use, it's always reassuring to see Google address new issues as they pop up. In regards to more user-facing changes, this patch also includes a few bug fixes for Pixel devices. They include:
- Improvement for auto-rotation in certain device orientations (Pixel 3 series, Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a).
- Improvements to auto-brightness response in certain lighting conditions (Pixel 4a).
- Fix for some devices stuck during boot (Pixel 2 series, Pixel 3 series, Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a).
- Fix to prevent inadvertent disablement of call notifications (Pixel 2 series, Pixel 3 series, Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a).
- Fix for missing auto-rotate icon in certain device orientations (Pixel 2 series, Pixel 3 series, Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a).
- Fix for undetected overview swipe gesture in launcher (Pixel 2 series, Pixel 3 series, Pixel 3a series, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a).
- Improvements for touch sensitivity with screen protectors (Pixel 4a).
These may not be the most earth-shattering updates we've ever seen, but we're appreciative of them regardless. Especially for the Pixel 4a which just came out back in August, it's awesome that Google's already addressed a few quality of life items.
If you have any of the Pixel phones mentioned above, keep an eye out for the OTA update to hit your unit soon!
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