Google No Longer Supports Android 12 and Android 12L
If you have a smartphone running Android 12 that can’t be updated to this version, I have bad news: Google is ending support for your phone.
RIP Android 12
As noted by Android Authority , Google is no longer releasing security updates for devices running Android 12 and Android 12L. The company excluded the Android version from its April 2025 Android Security Bulletin , which notes security vulnerabilities identified and patched by Google and identifies the versions of Android that receive those patches. The company is highlighting Android 13, 14 and 15 for a number of different vulnerabilities, but not Android 12.
The publication is basing this news on more than just these omissions: Android Authority reports that Google stopped supporting Android 12 and 12L as of March 31, based on a source who says the company stopped releasing security patches for those versions that day. Backup is when a developer takes a security fix from a newer version of software and adds it to an older version of that software. Google appears to have been doing this for Android 12 of newer versions of Android, but stopped as of late March.
Google isn’t currently specifying why it’s ending support for Android 12, but it’s almost certainly due to the age of the OS. The company released a version ( codenamed Snow Cone ) back in October 2021 . It was a relatively big update for Android, notably introducing ” Material You ” to devices for the first time. Material. You’ve significantly changed the look and feel of Android by customizing UI elements, app icons, and applying a universal theme based on the colors of your wallpaper. The update also included a number of privacy tweaks, as well as some new gesture controls. According to Android Authority, Google stops supporting most Android OSes around three and a half years after release, so this timing is appropriate.
Is your device affected?
The biggest problem here is that there are a lot of devices running Android 12. Statcounter reports that almost 12.5% of Android phones worldwide are running this version, while 9.14% of Android users in the US are using it . Blacklinko claims that there are more than three billion Android phones in use worldwide, meaning that more than 370 million Android phones could lose security updates.
If your Android phone can’t update to Android 12, it might be time to update. Sure, you can live without new Android features, but security updates are vital. Inevitably, someone will discover security flaws in Android that affect Android 12, but since Google is no longer porting patches for this version, those flaws will remain unfixed. Thus, attackers can exploit these flaws in targeted attacks, leaving you vulnerable.
If you’re looking for a new Android smartphone, Lifehacker sister site PCMag has a list of favorite Android phones for 2025 . If you choose a new Google or Samsung phone, know that the company guarantees seven years of software and security support. For example, if you buy a Pixel 9a today , you won’t have to worry about this situation until 2032.