The new Android Security Patch Level system is causing chaos!

Google just yesterday released the September version of the Android Security Bulletin, which starting this month features a new three-tier patching string system that is extremely confusing, even for Android pros.

The “Android security patch level” string is a setting in the “About” section of your phone that tells you the date of the last security update your phone received.

Google it started delivering its scheduled monthly updates last August.

In May 2016, the company renamed the Nexus Security Bulletin from Android Security Bulletin to make it appear that some of the fixes applied to all Android devices, not just its own.

In July 2015, the company split the Bulletin into two parts, with one part addressing security fixes to the core files , while the second part addressed fixes to device-specific drivers and components. As a result, the Bulletin lists, for the first time, two levels of security patches.

This month's Android Security Bulletin now has three levels of security patches, which is sure to confuse users.

There is the “2016-09-01” security patch level which includes the kernel security updates for the Android OS.

There is the “2016-09-05” security patch level which indicates that a device has received security updates for kernel files and device-specific drivers.

And then there's "2016-09-06," which indicates that the phone includes security updates for kernel files, device-specific drivers, and... we don't know what else. For this month, the third security patch level includes two bug fixes, one for a critical update for an Android kernel issue and one for a Qualcomm networking component.
Remember, this is the same company that was quoted as saying it would start shaming OEMs for failing to apply security patches. Well, Google isn't making its life any easier.

Below you can see a screenshot of an Android device's security patch level string, as well as all the security updates included in this month's security bulletin.