Google Pixel Phone Installation Might Get Faster With Future Update

A speedier, more comprehensive OTA update system is apparently in the works for Google’s Pixel smartphones. It has been speculated that the technology giant intends to speed up the OTA update process. Pixel phones automatically download and install software updates in the background, so you can keep using them while they are being upgraded. However, this can take up to 20 minutes, and the corporation is rumored to have submitted software fixes to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code tracker in an effort to speed up the process. 

The full OTA update on a Pixel smartphone can reportedly be installed in under ten minutes with the fixes that have been published on Google’s code tracker, as reported by Android Police & citing Esper’s Mishaal Rahman. 

Review code shows that updating a Pixel 6 Pro with the latest patches, which is about 2.2GB in size, through over-the-air took about 13 minutes. It is estimated that the whole thing takes about 23 minutes right now. 

Rahman claims that a 376 MB “incremental” OTA update can be installed 27% faster using the fixes, from 22 minutes down to 16 minutes. Pixel users only need to restart their devices after installing the OTA to take use of the new software. 

The report states that the first change allows for copy-on-write (COW) operations in a cluster, and the second patch makes use of two threads to accelerate snapshot compression. The average update installation time can be cut by about six minutes with these changes. 

Please note that Google has not yet announced whether or not they have approved the changes that are said to increase update installation speeds.

As of late, users of Google’s Pixel 7 series in a number of countries have been granted free use of Google’s Google One VPN. Free access to Google’s VPN is now available on the Pixel 7 & Pixel 7 Pro smartphones.