Day 1 Verizon Galaxy S21 Update Caveats Improvements With Bloatware

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series will be available from January 29 and will get its first update the same day on Verizon, but that’s not just bringing improvements. In fact, according to recent reports, that’s also going to bring some bloatware along for the ride.

Now, the improvements here do far outweigh the bloat. Or, at least they do with regard for what the company plans to install alongside them. Until the phone launches, it’s hard to say with certainty what will be preinstalled on any carrier device out-of-the-box. The only app that will be installed alongside the update is Netflix.

Of course, carrier-delivered bloatware — this is a Verizon addition, rather than one from Samsung — is not unusual. Although most bloatware is more than a little annoying. But this shouldn’t be too much of a problem anyway. Many users will want that particular app installed, to begin with, and it’s not unlikely they can uninstall it if they don’t want it.

So what are the improvements with the day 1 Verizon Galaxy S21 update?

In terms of improvements, Verizon hasn’t been 100-percent clear about the details. The carrier says that it will bring the latest Android Security Patch. Namely, the January patch. So it will fix a good number of bugs and vulnerabilities. And the patch will improve the performance of the top-performing Samsung flagship.

The size of the update files hasn’t been revealed just yet either. But, as always, users will want to ensure they’re charged up before updating when it arrives. And it can be installed manually, for those who don’t want to wait for the OTA. Users simply need to navigate to Settings, then to System updates. A click on “Check for system updates” will start the process.

What do we know about this update?

The version designations for the updates are known. For the most affordable Samsung Galaxy S21, currently available on sale for just $99 with a trade-in, the version number will be G991USQU1AUA3. For the Galaxy S21+ and S21 Ultra, the numbers are G996USQU1AUA3 and G998USQU1AUA3, respectively.