The one quick smartphone check you need to do today

Most of us have a bunch of important data sitting on our smartphones right now, like bank details, our home address, private photos, and more. So naturally you'll want to make sure it’s as protected as possible.

However, when a manufacturer decides to drop support for your model of phone, your data becomes more vulnerable.

This happens far more often than people realise. In fact, 20% of consumers who upgraded their handset last year did so purely because their old device stopped receiving these vital software rollouts. Fortunately, checking where your own phone stands using our free tool takes barely 30 seconds.

Want to see all our Best Buy and Great Value phones? Head to our smartphone reviews.

Is your phone still supported?

Skip the guesswork and use our smartphone support calculator instead, which can also find with more advice on phone security in our mobile phone updates page. Just type in your specific model to see where you stand, and the tool will tell you our best estimate of when support may end for a handset. 

Why an estimate? While smartphone brands are better than most other smart tech when it comes to being transparent about support, it’s still termed as a support ‘minimum’, so in practice, handsets may last a bit longer. Take the date in the tool as an approximation of when a phone is on its last legs.

It’s also useful to bear in mind typical support periods when you’re shopping for a new phone. Google and Samsung both now pledge an impressive seven years of cover for their flagships, Apple typically keeps iPhones safe for around 5 to 6. Budget brands aren’t this generous, so keep your wits about you if you bought a cheaper handset.

The table below shows how manufacturers compare on typical minimum support from launch:

What to do if your phone is no longer supported

You don’t need to run out to the shops right now to get an upgrade. But, if your handset is no longer supported or is approaching the date it’ll lose support, you should start considering your next move. 

Without those regular updates, your operating system is defenceless against new threats. Cybercriminals are always on the prowl for flaws in older software, so if a brand stops providing these patches, then these flaws won’t get patched. Month by month, the gap between the threats out there and your phone's ability to fight them off grows wider.

You likely won't face an immediate crisis on day one. Keep using an unsupported phone for more sensitive daily tasks – like mobile banking, online shopping, and checking your work emails -- and it could become a problem. 

Happily, you don't need to spend a fortune to stay safe. Our rigorous lab testing proves that mid-range handsets – specifically those costing under £350 – punch well above their weight. Top-performing devices in this price bracket now routinely feature crisp OLED screens, 4K video, and excellent battery life. 

Look at the Google Pixel 9a as an option. SQUIRREL_TEXT_50020942. It comes with an appealing price and launched with Google's seven-year update guarantee. Pop that into our phone calculator, and you can see if should get support until at least March 2032.

Here are a few other things to consider before you buy:

• Buying outright is a total treat compared to a lengthy contract. You almost always pay less overall, and pairing a Sim-free phone with a cheap Sim-only deal gives you total freedom.
• Always check the update promise before tapping your card. Paying £279 for a phone that only gets two years of security support is a terrible long-term investment compared to spending £349 on a phone that gets seven.
• Never assume a massive brand name guarantees long-term safety. Check the specific model's credentials, not just the logo on the back.

Looking for a new device without breaking the bank? Find out why you don't need to spend more than £350 on a phone.

What to do if your phone is coming towards the end of its life

What if our calculator flags that your phone's support window is closing fast? There's no need to panic just yet. Tech brands frequently squeeze out extra updates past their initial promises.

The real nuisance is that phone companies rarely send a helpful warning pop-up saying 'this is your final patch'. Tracking down the truth can feel like a bit of a chore, mainly because every brand organises its software menus slightly differently.

There are a couple of ways to check, though. Your device features a built-in diagnostic screen that will show you its current safety status in real time.

Run this 10-second on-device check

• iPhone: Pop open Settings > General > Software Update. Don’t sweat it if your device cannot upgrade to the absolute newest iOS release. Apple regularly backports vital security patches to older operating systems like iOS 15 and 16. The real test here is recency: have you received any minor 'point updates' or small security fixes within the past six months?
• Android: Whether it’s a Samsung, Google, Motorola, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, Honor, Sony, Nothing, Realme, or Nokia, there’s a great shortcut. Head to Settings, tap the search bar right at the top of the menu, and type in ‘Security update‘. Tapping the result reveals your phone's exact security patch date.

Once you arrive on your phone's respective update screen, press the manual 'Check for update' button. If your phone confidently claims everything is entirely up to date, but the security patch date on display is more than six months old, your phone is likely no longer receiving updates.

If the patch date is only two or three months out of date, don't sweat it too much. Your phone might simply be on a staggered quarterly release track, or your mobile network carrier might just be taking a little extra time to approve and push out the latest local rollout.

Or this more in-depth check

If your device's patch date looks concerningly old and you want to verify whether it has truly been abandoned – or if it's just a temporary network carrier delay – you can double-check the manufacturer's official logs.

To help you cut through the dense corporate jargon, here is how to find the official resources across all 12 major brands:

• Apple: Check the official Apple Security Releases web page for a historical record. It tracks every update across active and legacy iOS builds. When an iPhone gets too old to run the big, annual iOS upgrades, Apple enters a grace period where they continue pushing critical security patches to older software tracks (like iOS 15 or 16). If your phone is permanently stuck on an older iOS generation, you are running on a bare-minimum safety net and should start planning an upgrade. 
• Samsung: It keeps a rolling ledger at Samsung Mobile Security. Devices are grouped by whether they get monthly, quarterly, or biannual updates; if yours isn't there, it's retired.
• Google: Search for their help page titled 'Learn when you'll get software updates on Google Pixel phones' to view a precise calendar of exact cutoff dates.
• Xiaomi: Go to the Xiaomi Security Center and click the Security Updates page. Find 'EOL (End-Of-Life) Product List' – if your Redmi, Poco, or Xiaomi is listed, support has dried up.
• Motorola: Head to the online 'Security Updates' portal, click 'Select your product', and see if your exact handset model is marked as active or concluded.
• Oppo: The OPPO Security Center hosts a rolling table. If your specific phone isn't listed on it, the brand has ceased security coverage.
• OnePlus: Check active maintenance logs under the OnePlus Security Advisory section on the official support site.
• Honor: Active devices are tiered into monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly release cycles on the official Honor Security Updates portal.
• Nokia (HMD): Use the searchable 'Smartphone Security Updates' matrix on the HMD website, letting you pinpoint your device's exact maintenance release window.
• Sony: Search the Sony UK support site for the guide titled 'How long will my Sony product receive security updates?' and plug in your Xperia model number.
• Nothing: Check the official Nothing OS Update Logs. If your handset (like the original Nothing Phone 1) has stopped showing up in their recent quarterly system release announcements, it means its active support window has closed.
• Realme: Go to the Realme Security Center boards to view live, active rollout schedules.

For a more in-depth look at keeping your phone secure, we've put together a full mobile phone security guide.