Google has ended its support for Android 12 and Android 12L, as evident from the April 2025 Android security patch, which no longer includes updates for these operating system versions.
Every month, Google releases a security patch for Android that contains fixes for numerous security issues. Until the March 2025 security patch, Google offered these updates to Android 12 and newer versions of the OS. However, with the April 2025 security patch, the company has dropped support for Android 12 and Android 12L, limiting these crucial updates to Android 13 and newer versions of the OS.
Samsung, which customizes Google’s security patches by adding fixes for more security issues before offering them to Galaxy phones and tablets, had already stopped providing these updates to devices running Android 12 (One UI 4) and older versions of the OS. Currently, Samsung is offering security updates to devices running Android 13 (One UI 5) and later, making Google’s latest change irrelevant to Samsung devices.
Regarding Samsung’s security patches, the company started rolling out the April 2025 security patch to eligible Galaxy smartphones and tablets last month. This update addresses 56 security issues. It’s worth noting that Samsung has faced criticism for delaying the rollout of the Android 15-based One UI 7.0 update, and despite not having rolled it out to all eligible devices, its Android 16-based One UI 8.0 has leaked, revealing its features.
