[Update: Fixed] Google Play System updating to September 1 then reverting to May 1 on Android 12 beta 4 (stuck on May update)? You aren't alone

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on August 24, 2021) follows:

Several Google Pixel users on Android 12 beta 4 are reporting issues with Google Play System updates wherein the version reverts to May 1.

This happens even after receiving the September 1 update. Device owners have observed that the Google Play System downgrades to May 1 after their units reboot.

For a recap, Google Play System Updates were introduced with Android 10. The Android version brought about several changes and one of them included Google identifying 13 core components and creating modules from them.

Google can directly update these modules as and when they are needed.

The biggest benefit was that OEMs, which are usually slow when it comes to updates, are no longer responsible for distributing security updates. Instead, Google can now use this implementation to send out critical security updates directly.

Anyway, Google Play System updates are obviously not something that users check all the time. Most don’t even care about what version they’re running, so what’s the big deal here?

Well, as already highlighted, the Google Play System September update brings a fix for the VPN functionality that broke following Android 12 beta 4 update. But when it reverts to May, the VPN support crumbles once again.

Users, unfortunately, aren’t able to manually update from the Settings app when that happens as it displays as being up to date. And even if the September update does become available again, users are reverted back to May once more.

The issue isn’t limited to a particular Pixel model as there have been reports from multiple models running Android 12 beta 4 including Google Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4XL, and the Pixel 5.

The cause of the problem is unclear at the moment but devs on Google Issue Tracker have already passed the matter to the development team with a promise to provide further info when it becomes available.

The status of the issue titled “Google Play System Update shows May instead of September” has been marked as “Assigned”, thus confirming that the devs are indeed working on it.

Thus, there is nothing to do now other than waiting for a fix to be implemented for the issue where Google Play System reverts to May. In the meantime, stay tuned to our dedicated Google Pixel Android 12 bug tracker.

IST 02:16 pm: Google has pushed out an update to Android 12 Beta 4.1 to users of Pixel devices on the Beta channel but still, users continue to face this issue.

IST 06:16 pm: It appears that the Google Play System bug has finally been fixed with the beta 5 update according to an individual on the issue tracker page. However, the same has not yet been confirmed officially.

This has been fixed in Beta 5, the public RC, so you can close this issue now, Google! (Source)

IST 04:16 pm: Only a few hours after we shared the update, a Google employee did indeed mark the issue as fixed on the issue tracker page. Hence, you can now rest easy knowing that this isn’t a problem anymore.

The issue has been fixed in Beta 5 (Source)

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