Samsung Galaxy A53 and Watch 5 will receive the December update

The December update arrives today on the Samsung Galaxy A53. The Galaxy Watch 5 will also be getting a patch this month, after running on the July patch for a long time.

Galaxy A53 December update

One of the most popular Android phones of 2022 received the major upgrade to Android 14 last month, and now it’s back to normal for the Galaxy A53. This normalcy arrives today in the form of the December security patch.

A 260MB+ package that takes your Galaxy A53 to firmware version A536BXXSS8DWL1. There are not many visible changes. The December patch will be installed. This includes improvements to Exynos processor security Knox-System, Contactsbootloader and AR Emoji.

What the update hasn’t done yet is fix a bug that means icons in the status bar are not copy-protected. Not that things are moving that quickly, but we expect a fix in the coming weeks or months. In addition, yesterday we learned that Google Play system updates are currently on hold for technical reasons not related to the phone itself. So sooner or later this problem will be solved externally.

Availability

You can download the December update at Unbranded Galaxy A53 in the Netherlands, Belgium and the rest of Europe. If you don’t want to wait for the notification from your phone itself, start it manually via Settings -> Software Update -> Download and Install.

Galaxy Watch 5 (Pro) December 2023 update

Then there’s the Galaxy Watch 5. In mid-November, we reported that Samsung’s Galaxy Watch models with Wear OS had received very few updates in recent months. Shortly after that, a new security update appeared on the Galaxy Watch 6 series, but the Watch 5 was still in the July patch.

Fortunately, this will also be updated today. A major update is ready for the Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro Bluetooth models. The download size that installs firmware version XXU1BWL1 on the watches is approximately 530MB. Then they finally run again on the recent security patch: the patch from December 2023.

Availability

At the time of writing, you can only install the update on Watch 5 models using a Bluetooth connection. It is not yet available in 4G versions, but we expect it to be available in the coming days or weeks as well.

As always, you can wait until your phone tells you that you can update your Watch 5 (Pro). However, you can also work on your own via Galaxy wearable-program. Choose it there Watch 5 (Pro)screen, click Clock settings And then Update the watch software To download it manually.

Have you installed one of the above updates on your Galaxy A53 or Watch 5, and have you experienced any more noticeable changes? Please let us know below!

(Thanks Robin, Sharon and Jaco!)