Have an ancient Android phone? You won't be able to sign into Google after September 27.

Time to buy a phone released in the last decade (at least).
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Have an ancient Android phone? You won't be able to sign into Google after September 27.
Still using one of these babies? You'll have a problem after September. (Pictured is Omar Khan holding a Samsung Nexus S device in 2011). Credit: bloomberg/getty images

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.


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"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.

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.

Topics Google

Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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