Older Android devices required users to sign in before any of the phones could be used; many older devices even restricted the use of calling emergency numbers before it was properly set up. Older phones required users to sign in with a Google account, and that might change soon as Google wants to disable access due to security reasons, essentially killing off older devices completely.

Users with an active Android 2.3.7 smartphone have recently received an email telling them, “Signing in to your account on Google apps will no longer be supported on phones with Android version 2.3.7 or lower starting September 27″ (via 9to5Google). This means that all Android versions from Android 1.0 up to 2.3.7 are affected (most devices up to September of 2011).

Google says this is to “help and protect your account’s security.” These actions will result in a “username or password error” starting September 27. To avoid such troubles, you might want to sign in to your device, as it’s currently unknown if you’ll be able to set up an older Android device after that point since many rely on a Google account to get started. (Most older Android phones will require you to insert a SIM card and sign in, and this step cannot be skipped on most devices)

The change will hardly affect many users, it will mainly have a big impact on smartphone collectors – like myself – and those who use older devices for certain tasks or for memories sake. Google also mentioned that Android 3.0 Honeycomb or higher would be required to “keep using Google apps on these phones”. The Google Play Store has already stopped being supported on such old devices, and Google will stop supporting Android 4.1-4.3 Jelly Bean smartphones that came out between 2012 and 2013 next month.

If you want to learn how to tweak or perhaps like to customize your devices even further, you can visit our sister site XDA-Developers to flash a new ROM and keep your device alive for even longer, even after it’s officially unsupported.