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METHODOLOGY

Every claim needs evidence

DevLifeCheck separates facts, calculations and estimates so a confident-looking interface never hides uncertainty.

Evidence hierarchy

AOfficial confirmedManufacturer policy, product page, regulator or recall authority
BPolicy-derivedCalculated from an official duration and documented start date
CCorroboratedMultiple reliable secondary sources agree
DEstimatedReasoned estimate with limitations stated
UUnknownNo defensible date is publicly available

Review workflow

  1. DiscoverFind a manufacturer, regulator or other permitted source.
  2. ParseCapture the exact claim, region, model family and effective date.
  3. MatchResolve variants and avoid transferring a claim to an unsupported model.
  4. VerifyThe named editor checks the source, scope and calculation before publication.
  5. PublishThe record receives a confidence label and review date.
  6. MonitorPolicy changes and stale evidence return to the review queue.

How a support date is calculated

When a manufacturer publishes an exact end date for a model, the record uses it as Grade A evidence. More often the manufacturer publishes a duration, such as “seven years of security updates from launch”. The record then states the documented start point and adds the duration.

Example: Google states that Pixel 8 receives OS and security updates for seven years from its first availability in the US Google Store in October 2023. The record therefore shows October 2030 as a Grade B, policy-derived horizon at month precision. It is not presented as the day of the final patch.

Minimum commitments, such as legally required update periods in the UK or EU, are labelled “at least” and kept separate from final dates. OS-upgrade promises are never converted into security-support dates.

Status labels

  • Supported — the recorded security-support date is more than twelve months away.
  • Ending soon — the recorded date falls within the next twelve months.
  • Support ended — the recorded date has passed. The device still works, but new flaws may stay unfixed.
  • Status unknown — no defensible end date is public; the record shows the manufacturer’s policy or update frequency instead.

Sources we use

  • Manufacturers: support and update-policy pages, security bulletins, firmware release notes and product specifications.
  • Regulators: U.S. CPSC, EU Safety Gate, UK Office for Product Safety and Standards, and Health Canada recall notices.
  • Registries: the EU EPREL database for repairability, battery and durability labels, matched to exact registrations only.
  • Independent assessments: iFixit repairability scores, shown as their own scheme and never blended with official labels.

Every source is listed in the public source registry with its owner, jurisdiction and last check date.

Review cadence and corrections

Sources are re-checked on their own schedule: recall feeds daily, and manufacturer policy and firmware pages monthly or quarterly. A changed or stale source sends the affected records back to the review queue. Anyone can submit a correction with an official source; confirmed changes are published with a revision entry, so earlier values remain visible.

Independence

DevLifeCheck is independent of manufacturers and retailers. Affiliate relationships, where present, never change a date, grade or verdict, and no manufacturer can pay to change a record.

Wording rules

We do not say a device “is secure.” We say it is within a stated security-support period. We do not say “no recalls exist.” We say no matching notices were found in the sources checked on a specific date.