Back in 2020, “seamless” updates were first revealed to be a part of smartphones that are launching with the latest Android 11 OS. the phones still miss out on one of Android's best feature seamless updates. In 2016, Google introduced seamless updates for Google Pixel devices, enabling these devices to install system updates while running and installing the update after a reboot. However, it seems that Google has apparently rolled this requirement as it has been confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S21 doesn’t support this feature.

Google has backed off on this requirement since it’s no longer in the Android CDD (Compatibility Definition Document). The CDD acts as a guideline for Android OEMs and lists what Google requires from OEMs for their devices to be compatible with the newest version of Android.

The seamless update enables the device to get updated in the background while it is being used. While it was expected to be a feature for devices that launch with Android 11, this has since been confirmed to not be the case.



Furthermore, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series is also confirmed to not feature seamless updates. The idea behind this new feature was to reduce the wait times behind the updates, namely the bootloader bar, which makes the device unusable for a short duration of time. While various OEMs like Google, Motorola, OnePlus, and even LG support it, Samsung still doesn’t support seamless updates on its devices despite the feature being announced almost half a decade ago.

Last year’s Samsung Galaxy S20 series also did not support this feature despite the South Korean tech giant being one of the few manufacturers that offers timely updates. In other words, Samsung devices spend quite a bit of time in their bootloader screens due to the frequent updates. Thus, while the updates are a plus point, the constant downtime is a con to their otherwise great update cycles.