I forever advise folks to stay their favorite devices updated with the newest versions of no matter they will get: operational systems, firmware, security updates, etc. It’s the simplest thanks to guaranteeing you’re fidgeting with the newest options and exposing yourself to the fewest vulnerabilities. thus what happens once your device won’t allow you to update it at all?
In this week’s technical school 911—Lifehacker’s weekly tech-support Q&A column—reader “BleuWater” asks:
“I was questioning if you may shed some lightweight on one thing that’s been frustrating Maine for a really very long time. I bought a Samsung S4 Phone from Walmart. when a short time, I began to notice that my phone didn't change itself, even supposing it had been speech communication that everything was updated, whenever I'd check things come in my Settings perform.
As I started my analysis into checking out why & what was inflicting this to happen, it appeared a lot of I mammary gland into what I used to be reading regarding my issue, I learned that the phones Walmart is marketing block updates. Any suggestions for partitioning this on behalf of me would extremely facilitate Maine out vastly.
First, I’m unsure Walmart is doing something to dam updates on your device. It’s a distributor with no stake within the game. That’s completely different than a smartphone manufacturer that may decide its own timelines for once (or if) it rolls out the newest robot updates to your device (in no matter bespoken method it has to do it).
Or, to place it in a different way, Walmart isn’t Samsung. Samsung must do its own Mickey Mouse to include major robot releases into its devices—unlike a lot of “pure” pel phone from Google, for lack of a far better thanks to phrasing it. Walmart, however, isn’t marketing its own branded version of the Samsung S4, neither is it getting in there and messing with the phone nor dominant however or once it receives updates cycle. That’s simply not Walmart’s business.
What’s a lot of probably is that your phone—which debuted in Apr of 2013—is just too old to receive any updates. It’s a six-year-old device when all; the percentages of Samsung still giving it any support whatever area unit slim to none. As different articles describe, your phone formally reached end-of-life standing in Nov 2015 with the discharge of robot Lollipop, or version five.0.1 of its software.
In fact, I don’t even see the Galaxy S4 on Samsung’s list of devices that receive regular or occasional security updates—nor would I expect to, to be honest. you usually get around 3 to four years of security updates for a flagship device. After that, the corporate has moved on. Presumably, the general public has conjointly moved on to a different device, since your smartphone’s battery has most likely given out by then, too (or is getting ready to it).
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