Android’s ‘check for update’ button will now finally do something

If you’re an Android user, you likely know the pain of waiting for a new version of Android to hit your phone. That “check for update” button becomes the most-used feature on your device but you might not be aware that to date that button really hasn’t done much. That, however, is now changing. According to Google’s Elliot Hughes, as long as the latest version of Google Play Services is on your phone, hitting the “check for update” button will now reveal an update if one is available. In other words, whether you are in the current rollout group or not, you will get the update. The reason for that is that Google is now flagging you pressing the button as “user-initiated,” which essentially allows you to bypass the rollout groups, which were generally between one and 25 percent. “One thing I haven’t seen the tech press notice is that the button in Settings to check for an update actually works now,” Hughes said in a post. “If you’re running a current Google Play Services, you shouldn’t need to sideload an OTA or flash a system image just because you’re impatient…” Of course, as mentioned there are a few things to keep in mind. For starters, you’ll need the latest version of Google Play Services to ensure you get the update, and the rollout of a new version of Google Play Services may still happen in stages. Not only that, but it’s highly likely that this really only applies to Google-built devices like Pixel and Pixel XL, and Nexus devices. It may also apply to Android One devices, which are serviced by Google and run stock Android. Why? Well, manufacturers like Samsung run their own tweaked versions of Android, and as such, they handle updates themselves. We tested the “check for update” button ourselves on the old Google Nexus Player and found that pressing it quickly revealed an Android 8.0 Oreo update, allowing us to check out the latest and greatest version of Android TV. It’s possible that our testing was just a coincidence and that an update was already on its way but that does not seem to be the case. OnePlus 13 users eager to try Android 16 can do so now. An announcement on the official OnePlus Forums states that users of OnePlus’ newest phone can download Android 16 Beta 2 on their devices. According to the note, the beta won’t be made available to OnePlus 13R users, at least to yet. Whether OnePlus 13 users should download the Android 16 beta is another story. As 9to5Google rightly notes, early releases of OxygenOS, which sits on top of Android on OnePlus devices, haven’t always played nice with beta versions. Google’s keyboard for Android, Gboard, has undergone some controversial changes lately with a new look that some beta users aren’t loving. But there could be an even more controversial change on the horizon, as an option will be coming to “iPhone-ize” the keyboard. As uncovered in an APK teardown by Android Authority, the new beta version of Gboard includes an option to hide the comma and period keys on the default keyboard screen — as is done in the iPhone keyboard. With the toggle enabled, Android users must tap the “?123” key to access their essential punctuation marks. It’s been five years since the Apple TV app was launched, and we’re now getting a version for Android devices — built from the ground up for native Android integration — in the Google Play store that will have the same Apple TV+ functionality as the Apple ecosystem version. The new app means users with Android OS 10 or later will finally have the ability to sign up for Apple TV+ on their Android-based phones and tablets to watch shows and movies like Severance, Silo, Killers of the Flower Moon, and CODA. There will be no difference in pricing on Android compared to Apple. This should enable seamless interactivity across platforms for features such as Continue Watching — which keeps track of where you are in a show or movie and allows you to pick up from that spot when you return, regardless of the device you watch on. Customer’s Watchlist will be kept up to date across devices as well, and since purchases are linked to your Apple account, all the content you own will be accessible on any device with the new updated app. One thing missing at launch, though, will be the ability to cast Apple TV content from your Android device.