July’s Android Security Bulletin is Here, But Not the Pixel Update Yet (Updated)

We’ve explained this for months now, but one more time so that we are all on the same page – Google has done away with releasing Pixel phone updates on the first Monday of each month. That schedule lasted for a number of years and it certainly helped all of us prepare for the excitement of receiving new software at the beginning of each month. However, since April of this year, Google removed wording to support that first-Monday schedule from the Pixel update and is now dropping them whenever. We could see them on the 2nd or 3rd Monday or a random Tuesday, like we just saw with the June Pixel Feature Drop.

For the month of July, that trend continues. July 3 was the first Monday of the month and Google did not release the new Pixel update. Now, you could argue that this month isn’t the best for examples and that they skipped it because July 4 followed the first Monday and most of Google likely had both the 3rd and 4th off. That’s fine, I’m just telling you that we don’t yet have the July update and aren’t sure when we’ll get it.

What we do have is the Android Security Bulletin for July 2023 (you can view it here). Google dropped it today to tell platform partners all of the security vulnerabilities that were fixed for this month. These bulletins have continued to show up on first Mondays (Google kept this schedule), so we’re clear. Showing up today does sort of confirm that Monday, July 3 was never going to be a release day for anything.

I wish I could tell you when your July Pixel update will show up. Unfortunately, the days of knowing exactly when Google will release each month’s patch are gone. That’s not to say that they aren’t sticking to monthly releases – those are an important piece of the Pixel experience. I’m just trying to reset your expectations around the first Monday of the month, as I have been for a good chunk of the year as not everyone seems to have received our multiple memos.

We’ll let you know when the July Pixel update drops.

• UPDATE 12:19PM: The July Pixel update could still arrive as early as today. Verizon has spilled the beans on build numbers (TQ3A.230705.001 – Pixel 4a through Pixel 6a; TQ3A.230705.001.A1 Pixel 7 through Pixel 7a) and suggested that July 5 is arrival day. Google also posted the Pixel Update Bulletin for the month here. Now we’re just waiting for factory image, OTA files, and a bug fix list.
• UPDATE 12:44PM: It’s here! You can grab the July Pixel update on your device now.