Samsung's Galaxy S was one of the first models with Android version 2.3
Photo: SPIEGEL ONLINE
Anyone who uses a particularly old smartphone or tablet with Google's Android operating system will receive an email from the company these days.
Their content: As of September 27, the company will no longer support devices that are operated with Android 2.3.7 or an earlier version.
That means: Google's own apps will fail and reject users with an error message.
On a support page, the company explains that they decided to take this step in order to maintain the security of the Android services. Google is constantly developing its services to make it more difficult, for example, to steal accounts. However, older Android versions cannot keep up with these advances because they do not support some new technologies.
The devices do not become completely unusable - but almost.
Anyone who wants to access Google services such as Gmail or Google Maps can still use them on the device in the web browser.
However, users of IT antiques no longer have a fully-fledged smartphone.
Google points out that reinstalling the old device also leads to problems: Android first tries to log into a Google account, which will no longer work with the old versions of the operating system in the future.
The group recommends installing a new Android version wherever possible.
The oldest version still supported from September is Android 3.0, which was first released in February 2011.
Alternatively, users can try to install an open source version of Android that does not rely on Google's services.
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