Can I skip updates?
Can I skip updates?
I have LineageOS installed on my phone and it has almost weekly updates. Since the device is quite budget, I believe its memory can be damaged by such often updates so I'm not updating it for 2 months already. But there are security fixes and patches in newer versions so I do want to update. My question is: do I have to install every update one by one (there are like 8 of them lol) or can I just install the newest version? All of the updates are minor of course. There are no Android version jumps
EDIT: I installed the latest version as everyone suggested and everything seems to be working fine. Thank you all for help
AFAIK LineageOS updates supply the whole system every time, that's why it's always so large. You should be fine skipping a couple. (fine in this way anyway)
That being said, I really doubt you could ever write enough data to harm the mass storage or RAM of your device before you have to switch phones because it stops being supported, or you drop it on concrete, etc.
I am almost forced to use my phone for as long as possible because of financial reasons. This one was bought used and it's 3 years old already but I'm planning to use it for at least 2 more years. That means keeping the memory in good condition is important for me. Same goes for its overall condition and structural integrity (lol) too
Sources vary, and admittedly I didn't research this thoroughly, but even old articles say that flash memory (which is what almost all smartphones use, I think) is expected to work for 10,000 or 100,000 complete writes. That is just sooo much data, even if your phone only has 16GB or something
You should research more on this, and decide if it will be fine for you for the next X years you wish to use this phone.
https://superuser.com/questions/17350/whats-the-life-expectancy-of-an-sd-card#17377
My phone is over 5 years old and I don't have any reason to change devices.
I don't think your storage can be worn out or at least it can't be worn out easily.
As far as updates go there is no reason to update right away. There are sometimes security fixes but most of them are not anything you need to stress about
There is a type of memory called eMMC. It's used in the absolute cheapest phones and it can wear out in like 30 formats afaik