Google is completely killing support for very old Androids.
Don’t worry, that Samsung that you bought three years ago will continue to work. We’re talking truly ancient devices — anything running Android 2.3.7 or lower. That’s Android Gingerbread, which came out over a decade ago, in December 2010, though it’s worth noting that there are billions of Android devices out there, so there are surely a non-insignificant number of users still using phones as old as this.
The news come from Google itself (via Reddit/Engadget), which outlined the change in a support document.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to keep our users safe, Google will no longer allow sign-in on Android devices that run Android 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27, 2021. If you sign into your device after September 27, you may get username or password errors when you try to use Google products and services like Gmail, YouTube, and Maps,” the document claims.
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Given how integral Google apps and services are for Android devices, for many users this will mean the phone will become truly useless. There is hope, though — if your device can be updated to a newer Android version (3.0+ or higher), you can do it to avoid this sad fate.
Realistically, no one should be using a device this old anyways, for security reasons — bugs and issues pile up over time, as do the chances of having your device infected with malware.
