Google has announced plans to end sign-in and service support for devices running Android 2.3.7 or later.

Any Android phone or tablet running the software, which is the final version of Gingerbread, won't allow users to access their account starting from 27 September, Google outlined in its support blog.

"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," the company says.

"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."

Naturally, this development is only a concern for those who have an extremely old Android device - version 2.3.7 was released almost 10 years ago, after all.

However, given the estimated three billion active Android devices in the world, and the fact that plenty of people like to hold onto and use old devices from time to time, this is still likely to force a minor tremor.  

For those who plan on using their device after the deadline, Google indicates that some services will be available to use on the browser. And, of course, anything from Android 3.0 and onwards will still be able to log into Google accounts, so it's worth checking whether your old device has the capability to make the leap.

All in all, this is an inevitable and necessary move from Google. These devices would have stopped gaining new software updates some time ago, and the amount of users likely makes the upkeep a fruitless task.

Spare a thought for the remaining HTC ThunderBolt and Samsung Galaxy S devices out there, though.