Google Pixel 7 and 6 are finally getting the January 2023 Play system update
Google has been rolling out monthly Play system updates for a few years now. Beginning in January 2022, the company startedpublishing detailed changelogshighlighting everything new in these releases. The problem is that despite being a monthly update, they don’t always roll out every month. The December 2022 Play system update never made it to Pixel devices, and while Google published the January 2023 update’s release notes right at the beginning of the month, the build was nowhere to be seen. Three weeks into January,Pixel 6and 7 owners report getting the latest Play system build.
Multiple Pixel 6 andPixel 7owners onRedditare seeing the January 2023 Play system update for download. On the Pixel 7, the update weighs around 63MB, while on the Pixel 6 series, it is about 59MB in size. However, many Pixel users report that installing the latest Play system update does not bump the build to January 2023. Instead, their phone remains on the 13 August 2025 release after the reboot.
We faced the same issue on two of our Pixel 7 units. The 63MB update appeared for download upon checking. After installation, though, the phone remained on the November build. The second unit was updated to Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2.1 after installing the Play system update, but that did not bump the build to January.
A section of Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 users are not seeing any update for download upon checking for the latest Play system build. If you are one of them, update your Google Play Store and Play Services first to see if that changes anything.
Google’sJanuary 2023 release notesfor the Play system update highlight the following changes:
[Phone, Wear OS] Bug fixes for Account Management, Security & Privacy, System Management & Diagnostics, and Utilities related services.
[Phone] Updates to System Management, and Usability services that improve Device Connectivity, Device Performance, Network Usage, Privacy, Security, Stability, and Usability.[1]
It is unclear why Google is so inconsistent with the rollout of Play system updates, especially on its Pixel phones. For now, you can only keep checking for Play system updates on your phone and hope to get the January build.
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