Google will soon stop providing updates for its Chrome browser on several smartphones running outdated versions of its Android operating system. The company is also discontinuing updates to its Google Calendar app on these phones. If you have an older smartphone and want to continue receiving updates to the company’s browser and calendar apps (which usually add new features or security-related fixes), you’ll need to update your smartphone to a newer Android version or buy a new device.
According to a recently updated support article for Google’s Chrome browser spotted by 9to5Google, the search giant is expected to drop support for Chrome on devices running Android 7.1 (Nougat) and older versions, starting with version 120, which expected in early 2024. “Chrome 120 does not support and will not ship to users running Android Nougat,” the support page said.
Google says Chrome 119 will also include a message to users on older smartphones, asking them to update to a newer version of Android. This means that if your smartphone does not have Android 8 (Oreo) or a newer version, you will not receive an update to Chrome 120. This is expected to affect about 8 percent of Android smartphone owners who have Android Nougat and earlier versions, according to Android usage statistics that surfaced in June.
Since the minimum version supported by Google Chrome has been increased to Android 8, this means that sideloading the APK for Google Chrome 120 and later versions will not work on Android 7 and older versions. If you don’t want to update your phone to the latest version available, you will need to download and install it to continue receiving updates. For most users with older smartphones and no ongoing Android OS update.
Meanwhile, TheSpAndroid reports that Google is preparing a message for Google Calendar users running on Android 7.1 and older releases, informing them that support for their Android version has been discontinued and asking them to update to a newer version of the operating system from Google. As a result, users will not be able to use Google Calendar 2023-46-0-581792699 and later versions, according to the report.