Android’s March security patch is now available for Google Pixel phones
Keeping your phone smooth and secure
Google is finally releasing Android 13’s March Feature Drop today, after a slight week-long delay. As always, it’s coupled with this month’s security patches. While the feature drop offers some exclusive extras for Google Pixel phones, the security patch will eventually make its way to all the latest and greatest Android phones (it may in fact have reached your Samsung Galaxy phone already). As such, let’s dive into what Google says is new in this month’s patch.
Apps
- Fix for issue causing Live Translate feature to prompt for translation too frequently in certain apps
- Fix for issue occasionally keeping display on while certain app activities are active
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing screenshots from being captured in certain apps
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing Wallpaper & style settings to open
Battery & Charging
- Fix for issue occasionally causing app-specific battery restriction settings to be reset after a software update
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing Battery Share from charging certain devices or accessories
- General improvements for charging, battery usage or performance in certain conditions
- General improvements for wireless charging stability or performance in certain conditions
Biometrics
- Additional improvements for fingerprint recognition and response in certain conditions
Bluetooth
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing Android Auto to connect wirelessly with certain vehicle head units
- Improvements for connection stability with certain Bluetooth LE headsets or accessories
Camera
- General improvements for camera stability and performance in certain conditions
- Improvements for color accuracy or exposure level while using the front camera in certain conditions
Display & Graphics
- Fix for issue occasionally causing display flicker or artifacts in certain apps or conditions
- Fix for issue occasionally causing instability or playback errors with certain media apps or content
- Fix for issue occasionally causing video preview to flicker in certain apps
Framework
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing keyboard from displaying in certain apps or conditions
Sensors
- Additional tuning for haptics intensity and response in certain conditions
- General improvements for adaptive brightness response in certain conditions
System
- Fix for issue preventing device bootloader from being unlocked in certain conditions
- Fix for issue preventing device from booting to Android in certain conditions
- General improvements for system stability and performance in certain conditions
- Kernel updates to 4.14.295, 4.19.261 , 5.10.149
Telephony
- General improvements for network connection stability and performance in certain conditions
Touch
- General improvements for touch response and performance in certain conditions
User Interface
- Fix for issue causing certain on-device search results to launch apps in work profile
- Fix for issue causing certain text entries in Battery Usage settings to overlap each other while scrolling
- Fix for issue causing home screen UI to appear blurred in certain conditions
- Fix for issue causing lag or delay with switching between apps while third-party launcher apps are in use
- Fix for issue occasionally causing inner launcher icons to appear clipped after closing a folder
- Fix for issue occasionally causing input text to overlap inside search bar
- Fix for issue occasionally causing media player notification to appear cut off or trimmed
- Fix for issue occasionally causing navigation UI to display over Assistant interface
- Fix for issue occasionally causing notification drawer to appear empty or blank
- Fix for issue occasionally causing Overview screen panels to display over home screen
- Fix for issue occasionally causing Quick Settings tiles to be activated while menu is not pulled down
- Fix for issue occasionally causing screen unlock to overlap with notifications, home screen or other UI elements
- Fix for issue occasionally causing silent mode icon to appear hidden or missing from status bar
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing app icon size to scale correctly when changing display size
- Fix for issue occasionally preventing screenshot sharing or editing to work when tapping overlay buttons
- Fix for issue preventing haptic feedback when interacting with notification drawer in certain conditions
- General improvements for performance in certain UI transitions and animations
- Improvements for home screen icon behavior when switching between different grid sizes
- Improvements for status bar layout and response in certain device orientations
Wi-Fi
- General improvements for Wi-Fi network connection stability & performance in certain conditions
- Improvements for connection stability with certain Wi-Fi 6E-capable routers or networks
While the March Feature Drop is clearly marketed as a Pixel-first experience, the security patch will come to all Android phones eventually. Depending on how old your handset is, it’s entirely possible that this version will be skipped by your manufacturer, though, but rest assured that the fixes will reach your phone with a future update. As for Pixel phones, you’ll need at least a Google Pixel 4a to get it. For the moment, we aren’t seeing any releases for Pixel 6 models — that’s almost certainly a situation that will change, though we can’t yet say what the holdup us.
As always, you can download the security patch and the Android 13 Feature Drop on your Google Pixel phone by heading to your system settings and looking for the system update section and hitting the check for updates button. For the more adventurous, the update is also available on the Android Developers site, with OTA files and factory images now up for flashing.