Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 17 had its official stable release on June 16.
- Beta testers quickly realized that they weren’t able to update, but Google promised a fix.
- Google says it’s still working on that fix, and just needs a little more time.
We’re coming up on two weeks now since Android 17 hit stable and Pixel users everywhere began upgrading to Google’s latest platform release. But while that’s been a smooth process for those of us who were waiting until now to get started with Android 17, the same hasn’t been true for early testers, with those on Android 17 Beta 4 and Beta 4.1 unable to upgrade to stable without losing all their device’s data. Google has promised that a solution is in the works, and this week we get a little upgrade on its progress.
Normally, once you enroll your device in the Android Beta Program, you’ve got two ways out, should you choose to leave: You can flash your phone with a stable version of Android, wiping your data in the process, or you can opt out, decline to install future Beta updates, and wait for the stable update to hit your phone.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work, but when Android 17 landed earlier this month, testers running Android 17 Beta 4 and Beta 4.1 began to notice that they weren’t seeing their stable updates arrive. Google quickly confirmed the issue and promised that it would have a solution “coming soon.” But now, a week and a half later, they’re still waiting.
Over on Reddit’s Android Beta sub, Google’s Mishaal Rahman posts an update today:
We’re working through a few issues to ensure that the OTA update goes smoothly for beta users. We’d hate for the OTA update to cause problems for y’all, so please bear with us a bit longer! For transparency, though the goal is to have existing Beta 4.0/4.1 users… upgrade to the same stable release as non-Beta users, the actual OTA update patch that’ll bring y’all to that release isn’t the same OTA update patch that users on the previous stable release received, as they’re two different bases. This means both OTA update patches need to be built and tested separately before we can push them out!
It’s a little frustrating to receive this update without a specific ETA attached to it, but we’re also happy to get some reassurance that Google hasn’t abandoned this fix, and that it’s just going to be a matter of (even more) time before it’s ready to go. And if a little extra testing can help ensure that there’s no more surprise upsets for Beta users, we can definitely stomach a slightly longer wait. Let’s just hope that Google’s able to wrap up its testing before we’ve got the end of July creeping up on us.
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