Google has set new rules for the next version of Android 11: devices running Android 11 must support the "seamless update" feature.
Android seamless update was introduced on Android 7.0 Nougat as a method to reduce downtime caused by operating system updates and provide a recovery mechanism in case the update is not applied correctly.
Before the emergence of the seamless update feature, system updates on Android phones often took up to 25 minutes. Seamless update utilizes two system partitions to reduce downtime.
These two system partitions are called A and B and are copies of each other. One goes online and one goes offline, and the application updates to the offline partition. When the offline partition is updated, the system will ask to restart and then switch the active partition.
Manufacturers such as Google, OnePlus, Nokia, LG, Motorola, HTC, Sony and ASUS have voluntarily adopted seamless updates.
Android 11's mandatory seamless update means that other manufacturers such as Samsung must implement this rule.
