A February surprise: The latest Android update quietly delivers fixes and features you'll want

Android updates seem to come fast and furious these days.

Or so one might be led to think.

Although the February 2025 update might seem small, there are some important things going on under the hood. In fact, most of what is found in the latest update is “behind the scenes.”

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Even the release notes are titled “Google System Release Notes,” and according to the official announcement page, “Google System updates make your Android devices more secure and reliable, and give you new and useful features. They include updates from Google to the Android operating system, Google Play Store, and Google Play services. Google System updates are available for phones, tablets, Android TV and Google TV devices, Android Auto-enabled devices, cars with Android Automotive OS or Google built-in, Wear OS devices, and Chrome OS devices.”

What is in store for the latest update? 

You’ll find updates for the following:

• Account Management – You can now more easily manage a family group with the new entry point for Family Link (Google app settings).
• Developer Services – New features for app developers to support machine learning and AI-related processes.
• Device Connectivity – Bug fixes for device connections in Auto, Phone, TV, and Wear, as well as the ability to continue Quick Share transfers, even if the sender or receiver loses direct connection.
• Utilities – New developer features to support utilities-related processes.
• Google Play Store – Users will now receive UI updates when a new Play Games profile is created, along with an improved evaluation system for apps running on tablets and Chrome OS devices.
• Google Maps – Every two weeks, Google Maps now provides bug fixes and improvements, so you can more easily discover and navigate to new places.

How to update your Android device

As I said, this isn’t a major update. Even so, it’s important that you allow your device to update to the latest patches and fixes. Fortunately, this all happens in the background, so you shouldn’t have to do anything for the upgrade to process.

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If you’d like to check for the update manually, go to Settings > System > Software updates > System update. Tap Check for update, and if one is available, tap to download and install it.

You can read more about the update on Google’s official announcement page.