It's not been a fun few weeks for owners of older Android phones. WhatsApp recently confirmed that it was ending support for devices that can't upgrade to Android version 5 and now Google is joining the app-blocking party. The US technology company has just confirmed that it will soon be ending support for its Chrome web browser on ageing Android phones.
Although this software won't stop working altogether, it will no longer receive any new features or security updates which could end up putting users at risk of cyber crime.
There's currently no word on when the changes will come into force although some are speculating that it will be as early as next month - that's when the the latest Chrome 120 launch is expected to take place.
Luckily, Google is ending support for devices that can't upgrade beyond Android Nougat - that's an OS that launched all the way back in 2016.
Although this is a very old operating system it's still installed on around 2% of all Android phones meaning millions could find they lose access to updates from Chrome pretty soon.
"Chrome on Android will no longer support Android Nougat," Google confirmed in its release notes.
"The last version of Chrome that supports Android Nougat is Chrome 119, and it includes a message to affected users informing them to upgrade their operating system. Chrome 120 will not support nor ship to users running Android Nougat."
If you're unsure what version of Android your phone is running, simply head to Settings then near the bottom, tap About phone and then Android version.
Here you'll find your 'Android version', 'Android security update' and 'Build number'.
To see if you can upgrade, go back to your device's Settings, then tap System and then System update. You'll find your update status. Follow any steps on the screen.