Google's new Nexus devices offer specific details on security updates

The Stagefright vulnerability was no joke! It gave attackers control over your device with a simple MMS message and affected about 95% of all Android devices. Let’s just say it was a pretty frightful incident and Google wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is why the Search Giant promised monthly security updates to its Nexus line-up.

How do you know where your phone’s software stands, though? So far all you could do was take a look at the version number, but that means nothing to most people. The only way to get any details would be to search the software version and research your way around complicated specs and confusing forums.

With the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, Google introduces a much simpler way to see if your phone is up-to-date. Just head over to the Settings app and access your “About” screen. Look under “Android security patch level” and you will see when your device was last updated. If the date is over a month old, it likely means your phone needs to be patched.

It can be assumed that this is simply an Android 6.0 Marshmallow improvement, so we might see it coming to other Nexus handsets in due time.

So there you have it, guys. This is probably not a game-changer, but it’s definitely a neat little tool to see if your smartphone is secure or not. In the meantime we will have to continue searching those annoying long strings of characters.