Bought a 2021 Moto G Pure as a Google Voice phone, but cannot get all the updates

atxcyclist · May 12

So, I just bought this phone, unlocked and refurbished off Amazon. It honestly didn't even looked used, it's in very good shape, and I managed to get the update to Android 12, along with Google Play and Google Play Protect updates that show green and current, but the Security update is from December 1, 2023 and I cannot get anything newer through the updater on the phone. I have been using iOS smart phones for a decade so I'm very new to this platform, but I was under the impression that Security updates got pushed to phones for at least 3 years, and this is right around two from the manufacturing date, so that doesn't seem correct. Is there some sort of manual way to do this? Is there some desktop software I could back the phone up with and then do a manual update? This thing has my Google account information on it to get Voice to work, so I want to be up-to-date.

Commodus · May 13

On 5/11/2025 at 10:25 PM, atxcyclist said:

So, I just bought this phone, unlocked and refurbished off Amazon. It honestly didn't even looked used, it's in very good shape, and I managed to get the update to Android 12, along with Google Play and Google Play Protect updates that show green and current, but the Security update is from December 1, 2023 and I cannot get anything newer through the updater on the phone. I have been using iOS smart phones for a decade so I'm very new to this platform, but I was under the impression that Security updates got pushed to phones for at least 3 years, and this is right around two from the manufacturing date, so that doesn't seem correct. Is there some sort of manual way to do this? Is there some desktop software I could back the phone up with and then do a manual update? This thing has my Google account information on it to get Voice to work, so I want to be up-to-date.

It highly depends on the manufacturer, model, and when it was released.

From what I've seen, the Moto G Pure 2021 model only received two years of security updates. Motorola doesn't have updates to install for this phone no matter how much you want them, I'm afraid. Short of installing a custom ROM (which doesn't sound like what you want to do) you're as current as you're going to get.

atxcyclist · May 13

17 minutes ago, Commodus said:

It highly depends on the manufacturer, model, and when it was released.

From what I've seen, the Moto G Pure 2021 model only received two years of security updates. Motorola doesn't have updates to install for this phone no matter how much you want them, I'm afraid. Short of installing a custom ROM (which doesn't sound like what you want to do) you're as current as you're going to get.

Well that’s unfortunate, but I guess I’m just going to use this with the Google Voice app mostly, so hopefully that won’t be a problem.

Commodus · May 13

1 minute ago, atxcyclist said:

Well that’s unfortunate, but I guess I’m just going to use this with the Google Voice app mostly, so hopefully that won’t be a problem.

I don't think it will be — just minimize the online usage and app installs, and of course keep an eye out in case there's any odd behaviour. If this were more of a general-purpose device it'd be another story.

Motorola has gotten better about OS and security updates, but it still tends to offer shorter support cycles than other Android vendors like Google, OnePlus, and Samsung.