Force an Android system update?

There’s no actual secret involved in figuring out how to force your Android device to check and see if there’s an update available, actually, though I like the idea of there being a mysterious and arcane knowledge that you could tap into if you were just one of the Illuminati, part of the secret club. Hmm… maybe I should start the Android Insiders Club. Proposed motto: “If you need to ask about joining, you’re not ready to be a member.”

More seriously, though, just like every other operating system, everything you need to know about Android is accessible from the Settings app. And on Android, that app’s icon looks like a couple of sliders in a box.

You can see it’s highlighted in the screen capture below:

If you can’t find the Settings icon because it’s not on any of the main pages, no worries, tap on the button with the six tiny squares within: that shows every single app installed on the tablet, whether they’ve been promoted to one of the home screens or not. (yeah, it’s kinda like Windows 8 in this regard, but I better not say that or all the Android fanatics will get upset with me!)

Tap on Settings and you’ll see a huge number of options:

All well and good, but what you want is actually at the bottom left and sure doesn’t jump out as being something to explore: “About tablet”.

Tap on that option, however, and you’ll see:

Ah, there we go, “System updates”. That’s what you want.

Tap on it and it’ll check with the “mother ship” to see if there are any updates pending. If not:

Easy enough. “OK”.

If there is an update pending, I strongly STRONGLY recommend you plug in your tablet before you begin updating, because it’s really a bad thing to have the tablet die partway through the process.

That’s it. No secret handshake, no meeting room behind the meat counter. Just a few taps.