How do I get the new update

[baileydunne]

I bought a Samsung galaxy s8 off someone from gumtree. They say the phone was a present from a friend and that it was software unlocked (i think they mean it was locked to a provider but not anymore). Anyway right now I'm running Nougat but i want to upgrade to Oreo. It says there are no updates though when i check for them. How do i upgrade to Oreo? will i have to flash it, and if i do what are the steps? thanks in advance.

 

[Shotgun84]

Hi. Were software unlocked his exact words? To me that sounds like the phone has been rooted since "carrier unlocked" would mean it works on any network. That would explain why you can't upgrade the firmware. Could you go to settings, about phone, status and see if device status says custom. Could you also go to the play store and download a root checker and see what that says please.

 

[baileydunne]

Yes software unlocked was there exact words. When going into device status it says custom and the root checker says it's not rooted.

 

[Hadron]

"custom" means that the previous owner at least attempted to modify the software. It's possible that that is the problem (it's also possible that the update simply hasn't rolled out for that sub-model yet - it's very recent and they don't all get it at once).

If you need to do anything to get the phone completely back to stock it's best that people more familiar with Samsung than I am advise.

 

[baileydunne]

"custom" means that the previous owner at least attempted to modify the software. It's possible that that is the problem (it's also possible that the update simply hasn't rolled out for that sub-model yet - it's very recent and they don't all get it at once).

If you need to do anything to get the phone completely back to stock it's best that people more familiar with Samsung than I am advise.

Even if if the update was out for it, i get this message.

 

[Hadron]

OK. Risk of buying a second-hand device, you don't know what the previous owner has done (especially if you've never thought of modifying a phone yourself, as you probably won't think to ask in that case).

Have you tried Smart Switch? That's what I'd try next.

It's possible to download firmware from sammobile.com and install it yourself, but I've never done this so would suggest waiting until someone who has can advise. I don't know whether that would resolve your "custom" flag problem (since you would then have stock software), or whether that's one of the things that Knox does that's harder to remove.