Google Is Trying To Fix Android’s Huge Security Problem, Here’s What To Know

Google's biggest Android problem is slowly improving. That is what appears from the tech giant's Android Security Year in Review. This is the latest update on the company's ongoing plan to help the phone manufacturers take over the security updates easily.

Android users often cite the wide range of choices in Android devices to be one of the reasons for its popularity, however, the same reasons turns out to be its weakness as well. That's mainly because the smartphone manufacturers take up too much time to adopt the software updates and security glitches.

Google has been trying to deal with this problem for quite some time. In fact, the company had once thought of publicly shaming carriers and phone manufacturers who were too slow with the updates. The tech biggie has taken steps to address this issue within Android itself.

According to Mashable, Adrian Ludwig, a member of Android's Security team, this step has been working. In fact, by the end of 2016, over 78 percent of flagship devices across North America received up to date security patches. However, looking at security updates in flagship devices beyond North America it decreases.

"About half of devices in use at the end of 2016 had not received a platform security update in the previous year," Ludwig wrote in a blog Wired reported. This means about half of all Android devices didn't get any updates at all. However, Ludwig mentioned that Google has been working on new fixes that would make it easier for Android devices to update itself.

As of now, it is difficult to say if this step would be enough. This needs a more streamlined process that would help the larger companies to update faster OEMs. However, by far the best way to keep the devices updated is by using a Google Pixel or Nexus phone. This is because Google oversees updates itself.