Security updates are reaching Android users faster and more reliably than in previous years. In research published this month, German cyber-security firm SRLabs said the Android patch gap has gone down from 44 days in 2018 to 38 days today.
The term Android patch delay, or patch gap, refers to the time from when Google formally publishes a security update on its website, and until a smartphone vendor (OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers) integrates the patch into its firmware.
SRLabs says it collected information on patches delays using its
SnoopSnitch security scanner app installed on more than 500,000 Android smartphones.
While the company reported that the patch delay has gone down by 15% in the last two years, the patch gap varied wildly across smartphone vendors, with some better than others at integrating the Google-provided security patches into their customized Android OS versions.
Researchers said Google, Nokia, and Sony were the fastest at integrating the monthly Android Android security updates into their customized customized Android OS releases, while Xiaomi, htc, and Vivo were the vendors lagging behind the most.
