PSA: Skip The Android 15 Update On Your Motorola, Unless You Want A Broken Launcher
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Motorola has been updating phones to Android 15 since December.
- Some models are experiencing launcher crashes that make the phones almost useless.
- A software fix has been issued for some devices, but it breaks the 2023 Razr Plus in new ways.
Motorola phones have had a troubled past with software support. They only get bi-monthly security patches, and many models have been launched with only one promised Android upgrade, which will likely arrive late. The company committed to better software support when it launched the Edge 50 Neo, promising five years of OS support. Since then, Moto’s other devices have seen more regular updates, with several models getting Android 15 sooner than expected. Sadly, the Android 15 update hasn’t been smooth for Motorola customers.
Users who’ve updated their phones to Android 15 are met with an almost unusable phone. The launcher, the app that gives you a home screen and access to all your apps, crashes repeatedly.
The only way to get out of this loop is to go to the lock screen, swipe down the quick settings, and open the settings app from there. This won’t help you use the phone normally, but at least you can navigate to the update screen when a fix is ready.
On my devices, a ThinkPhone 25 and a Razr Plus (2023), I already had NovaLauncher installed, and I was able to switch to that to negate the issue until a fix was issued. Sadly, that hasn’t worked for everyone, with Lenovo forum user ShyamG frustrated that their Edge 50 Neo kept overriding their custom launcher with the stock one, among other issues. Likewise, Reddit user KausHere is experiencing the launcher crashing issue on their Edge 50 Fusion.
Motorola was quick to address the issues, at least on my devices. My ThinkPhone 25 and Razr Plus (2023) got Android 15 with the December security patch, which meant their next bi-monthly update should’ve been based on the February patch. Instead, they got an update to fix the issue only a week after I got the botched update, and it’s based on the January patch. For my ThinkPhone 25, it’s business as usual, and the phone is working as intended.
Sadly, my Razr Plus (2023) wasn’t as lucky. The new update fixed the home screen crashing on the main display but introduced a new cover screen crash, as seen in the video above. This is better than the situation I was in before — while the cover screen is unusable, I can flip it open to use the main display. Still, getting an update that’s meant to fix your phone break something else instead is a bad experience. We haven’t seen any reports of this issue on newer Razr models, but they could be affected, too.
This is an unfortunate blip from a company that appears to be trying to turn things around. The 2023 Razr Plus was stuck on the June 2024 security patch for months, and other Moto models have had similar issues. However, since the launch of the Edge 50 Neo in September, all of the Moto phones that my family and I own have received their updates on time. Hopefully, Motorola can resolve this issue and continue to improve.
Have you had issues with your Motorola phone after the Android 15 update? Let us know in the comments below.
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