Bad news for phone owners who are still using Android Gingerbread or earlier. This phone will not be able to sign in to Google accounts and services beginning September 27, 2021.
This was announced directly by Google via an email sent to users still running Android 2.3.7 (the latest version of Gingerbread) and lower. That includes Android 1.0, 1.1, 1.5 Cupcake, 1.6 Donut, 2.0 Eclair, 2.2 Froyo, and 2.3 Gingerbread.
Once this rule takes effect, users still running old Android will not be able to sign in to Google services like Gmail, YouTube and Maps. But the service is still accessible via the mobile web as long as the user has logged into the browser on the mobile phone.
"As part of our ongoing efforts to keep users safe, Google will no longer allow access on Android devices running Android 2.3.7 or lower beginning September 27, 2021," Google said in a statement. / 8/2021).
"If you sign in to your device after Sept. 27, you may get a username or password error warning when you try to use products and services like Gmail, YouTube and Maps."
Additionally, Android users affected by this policy will receive a username or password error warning when trying:
Add or create a new Google account
Perform a factory reset and try logging in
Change the Google account password, which will sign out of the account on all devices, and try signing in again
Remove the account from the device and try adding it again
This new policy should not affect many Android users, given that Gingerbread and previous versions were released more than 10 years ago and there are currently few users.
But users who are still running Android Gingerbread or an earlier version are advised to upgrade to Android 3.0 Honeycomb if they still want to use their old Android phone.
Google itself has stopped support for operating system and Play Store updates for Android Gingerbread over the past few years. But this new policy completely eliminates basic functionality on old Android phones.
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