Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 get surprise updates, despite reaching EoL status last year

Earlier this week, Google rolled out the latest Android security patch to active Pixel devices. As expected, the oldest phone to receive that patch was the Google Pixel 5a, which launched in August 2021. However, now there are two updates for other, older Pixel phones: the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5.

You can find the two updates on Google’s list of OTA releases. However, you don’t need to download them from there if you’re not in a rush. Since this is an OTA update, you’ll get a notification on your Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5 in the next few days if you haven’t already.

Unfortunately, Google is being very secretive about what’s included with these updates. Thanks to a Reddit thread, we see that the update is very small at just over 10MB. It doesn’t include a new security update, as it’s still on the November 2023 patch. Being that it’s so small and doesn’t have the latest fixes, we can only imagine this is an update that specifically addresses critical bugs or security risks for these two phones. However, for what it’s worth, one Redditor does claim that their phone feels “snappier and smoother” after the update.

Google has been known to do this in the past. When incredibly critical security exploits are found, the company pulls Pixels out of update retirement to get the fix out there. However, this rarely includes new features or other dramatic changes.

If you have a Pixel 4a 5G or Pixel 5 and don’t want to wait, installing an OTA on a Pixel manually is relatively easy to do and does not require you to wipe your data.