If you are among the one billion individuals who own an Android device running on Android 12, or a previous iteration of the operating system, now is the time to consider upgrading your device. According to Forbes, this represents approximately 40% of all Android devices in the market.

Google has issued a warning that any Android device running the Android 12 operating system or older are no longer supported with patches or updates for vulnerabilities. This means that any Android 12 or older is at risk of compromise through spyware or malware attacks. The newest software patch is version 16. If your Android phone is not running version 16, it is out of date.

Whatever device you own, it is critical to update to the newest software to protect against known vulnerabilities. As pointed out before, as soon as your device manufacturer issues a patch, it is critical to apply the patch as soon as possible as the patch is designed to mitigate critical vulnerabilities. To read our previous posts about iOS software updates, click here.

Patch, patch, patch. If your device doesn’t support the newest patch, it’s time to invest in a new one.