Galaxy A8 (2018), T-Mobile Galaxy S7, and more get December security patch

Firmware

A handful of Galaxy devices are now being updated with the December 2018 security patch. The Galaxy S7 is being updated by T-Mobile in the US, while the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are receiving the new patch on the Verizon network. Over in Russia and some neighboring countries, an update with the December patch is rolling out for the Galaxy A8 (2018).

December 2018 patch available for more Galaxy devices

The contents of the update for each of these devices may be different, although it seems only the new security patch is the highlight. Software versions are getting bumped to G930TUVS8CRL1 for the Galaxy S7, A530FXXS3BRL1 for the A8 (2018), and R16NW.G960USQS3BRK2 and R16NW.G965USQS3BRK2 for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ respectively. The December patch brings fixes for nearly 40 critical vulnerabilities that affect Samsung’s software, along with fixes for six critical vulnerabilities that affect Android in general.

If you own any of these devices, open the Settings app, tap Software update, then tap Download updates manually. If you don’t have the over-the-air update yet, you can download the relevant firmware from our database for a manual install. As always, do tell us if the new update is available for your device in another country and whether it brings anything more than just security fixes.