By Zak Doffman
Publication Date: 2026-01-06 23:19:00
Beware this month’s Pixel update.
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The first Android security update of 2026 has now been confirmed. It includes a fix for a critical security vulnerability that exposes phones to attack. The good news is that the update will be available to Pixel owners within days. But the bad news is that another update is also now hitting Pixel phones, causing serious issues for users.
The critical vulnerability patched in January’s Android update “is a flaw in Dolby’s DD+ Unified Decoder,” Jamf explains. And because “audio attachments and voice messages are decoded locally,” this “can be exploited without any user interaction.”
But while Android’s monthly updates garner attention, Google also quietly deploys background updates to system services that also fix security issues. It’s these Play System updates that Samsung users have been missing for months, adding even more…
