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January 2026 Google Play system update just turned into November 2025? You're not alone
- Users are reporting that the latest Google Play system update reverts their version from January 2026 to November 2025.
- Reports are largely from Google Pixel users, but the issue affects phones from other Android brands too.
- The “downgrade” may be a mislabeled February 2026 update, and users are advised to stay on the latest available version for now.
Google Play System Updates (GPSU) allow Google to deliver modular components of the Android OS directly to your phone, bypassing the usual manufacturer and carrier delays. The system isn’t perfect, though, as manufacturers like Samsung have had delays that they eventually rectified. Users are now reporting more weirdness around Google Play System Updates, as it seems the newest update is downgrading users from the January 2026 GPSU to the November 2025 GPSU.
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Several Google Pixel owners are reporting (1, 2, 3) that they were on the January 1, 2026, Google Play System Update, but received a notification for an update. After updating, they were weirdly back down to the November 1, 2025 Google Play System Update.
While the reports are primarily from Pixel users across both the stable and beta release branches, the issue is Pixel-agnostic. Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug also noticed that their OnePlus 13R went through the same charade: Applying an “update” to the January 2026 GPSU dropped it back to November 2025 GPSU.
Google recently made it easier to uninstall Google Play System Updates. When AssembleDebug uninstalled the November 2025 GPSU, they were back to the January 2026 GPSU!
What’s happening? Since uninstalling the November 2025 update brings us back to the January 2026 update, there’s a chance that Google merely mislabelled the February 2026 update as November 2025. This would be the simplest explanation of the issue. This is a guess, though, and we’ve reached out to Google to learn about the technical details behind this bug. We’ll update this article when we hear back from the company.
As general advice, you don’t need to do anything here. We generally recommend that users stay on the latest available update, which in this case would be the seemingly mislabelled November 2025 update. If a fix is needed, Google will roll it out through the usual update route for GPSUs, so ensure that there are no pending updates. We could not find any reports of actual bugs after installing this November 2025 update, so there is no reason to worry right now.
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