Pixel 10’s May update prevents Android downgrades, recovery issues remain unresolved

Google has rolled out the May Pixel update, bringing with it a change to the Pixel 10 series that prevents users from upgrading their devices to older Android versions. This was expected to happen, and now it is officially implemented.

A warning on the company developer page Confirms that the update includes a bootloader change that increases the anti-rollback version. This means that after installing the May update, Pixel 10 series devices cannot flash and boot older Android 16 builds.

The move builds on Android’s existing anti-rollback protections, which are part of the Verified Boot framework, which is designed to prevent devices from running potentially harmful or vulnerable software. While this isn’t new to Pixel phones, the rollout has once again highlighted a long-standing problem for developers and advanced users.

The problem isn’t just losing the ability to downgrade to older Android builds. Users say that if a Pixel enters certain intensive recovery states, the phone can become effectively unusable. This can happen in various scenarios, like when you are flashing a factory image or OTA, and something breaks in between.

Internal Google teams have the recovery tools or signed recovery images needed to restore devices from these states, but external, regular users do not have access to them.

As Telegram leaked channel, mystic leak Reportedly, complaints have been raised regarding this limit Google issue tracker For some time now, but Google has not taken cognizance of them.

So while the May update for the Pixel 10 series improves security by preventing rollbacks to older software, it also reduces flexibility for some users and increases the risk of ending up with a device that can’t be easily recovered.