Your old phone lost YouTube. Google did it quietly

If you have a phone at home that never got beyond Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it just became a significantly worse device. Google has ended support for Google Play Services on it, and did so in a noteworthy way – without an announcement, without a blog post, without a notification on the phone.

End announced by a rewritten sentence in help documentation

The change came to light only because someone noticed a single sentence on Google’s help page. It now states that Google Play Services only work on devices running Android 7.0 and newer. Archived copies of the same page from earlier this year still mentioned Android 6.0.

Marshmallow was released in 2015, and Google supported it for almost eleven years – longer than any other Android version. The bar was last raised in August 2023 when KitKat was cut off. The decision itself makes sense; eleven years is an eternity in the mobile world. The execution, however, is not so elegant. People who are still using Marshmallow in 2026 are not enthusiasts following changes in Google’s help documentation – they are owners of inexpensive phones who use their devices until they physically die.

What will stop working

The phone will not turn off and has not turned into a brick. Calls, SMS messages, photos, and already installed apps will continue to work. Google Play Services have not been deleted from the phone; they will simply stop receiving updates, new interfaces, and security improvements.

Practically, this means three things. Firstly, over time, Google account logins, notifications, or location-based features will stop working. Secondly, new app versions will require newer Services, so updates will cease. And thirdly – most importantly – Google Play Protect will stop recognizing new threats.

It’s not just about Android 6

This is the part of the story that fits. At the same time, Google raised the minimum requirements for several of its applications, significantly higher than Android 7:

• YouTube requires Android 10 and sends older phones to the web
• The Google app wants Android 11, skipping Android 10 entirely
• Gmail stopped at Android 7, but continues to sync mail on Android 6

So, if you open YouTube on Android 6, you’ll see a prompt to switch to YouTube.com. You can play videos in the mobile browser, but be prepared for worse fluidity and missing features. Owners of phones with Android 8 or 9 will find that their Google app is stuck on an old version – and this problem also affects some Android TV televisions.

What to do about it

The honest answer is: there’s not much you can do. A phone that the manufacturer never upgraded beyond Android 6 will not officially get a newer version. Alternative ROMs like LineageOS exist, but they are solutions for enthusiasts, not for grandma. If you have banking or email with sensitive data on such a phone, it’s time for a replacement – not because of YouTube, but because of security patches that will no longer arrive.

Do you have a phone at home that is affected by the end of support?

Sources: Android Authority, PhoneArena, VARIndia