Google's Own Pages Give Two Different Dates for the Less Secure Apps Cutoff — and Neither Is in 2026
Google's Workspace admin page says less secure apps stopped working "Starting May 1, 2025"; its personal-account page says "Starting January 2025." Neither states a 2026 deadline.
Two official pages, two dates, same change
Both pages describe the same thing — Google ending support for apps that sign in with just a username and password — but they do not give the same date.[1][2]
The Workspace admin page says "Starting May 1, 2025, Google Workspace accounts no longer support less secure apps, third-party apps, or devices that ask you to sign in to your Google Account with your username and password." The personal-account page says "Starting January 2025…will no longer be supported for Google Workspace accounts."[1][2]
This document does not pick one. Both are Google's own pages, so this is a discrepancy within a single publisher rather than a dispute between two sources. A staged rollout would explain it, but neither page says so — and inferring that is not the same as reading it.[1][2]
The change is described for Workspace accounts, not personal ones
Read the subject of the sentence, not just the date. Both statements name Google Workspace accounts. Even the page aimed at personal accounts phrases its date as applying "for Google Workspace accounts."[1][2]
Neither page gives an end date for personal Google Accounts. That absence is the actual answer to "when does this hit my personal Gmail" — there is no published date on these pages to point to.[1][2]
The recommended replacements differ by audience too. For administrators it is "support OAuth 2.0 for authentication"; for individuals it is "a more secure type of access that doesn't share password data," pointing to Sign in with Google.[1][2]
Where the "2026 deadline" comes from
Guides describing a 2026 phase-out of app passwords are easy to find. The two official pages checked here contain no 2026 deadline.[1][2]
What they do contain are 2026 dates of a different kind: the Workspace page carries "Last updated 2026-09-10 UTC" and the personal page a "©2026 Google" footer. A page-update stamp is not a policy date.[1][2]
The personal-account page also does not mention app passwords at all — neither that they continue nor that they end. So claims about their removal cannot be sourced to it, and this document does not repeat them.[2]
Verified facts
Each fact is labelled with its evidence typeEach fact in this section carries its evidence type — either cross-checked against independent sources, or confirmed from a single authoritative record.
Statements and readings
Not counted as facts — each item shows what kind of statement it isFrom here on: statements not counted as facts — single-source reports, the issuing body’s own statements, and this page’s own readings, each labeled.
Google's Workspace admin page states "Starting May 1, 2025, Google Workspace accounts no longer support less secure apps, third-party apps, or devices that ask you to sign in to your Google Account with your username and password."[1] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Google Workspace Admin Help, Control access to less secure apps
Google's personal-account help page states "Starting January 2025, less secure apps, third-party apps, or devices that have you sign in with only your username and password will no longer be supported for Google Workspace accounts."[2] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Google Account Help, Less secure apps & your Google Account
The Workspace page's recommended alternative is "Deploy new apps or update your existing apps to support OAuth 2.0 for authentication."[1] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Google Workspace Admin Help page
The personal-account page advises that users "need to use a more secure type of access that doesn't share password data" and points to Sign in with Google.[2] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Google Account Help page
Neither page states an end date for less secure app support on personal Google Accounts, and the personal-account page does not mention app passwords at all.[1][2] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Observation of what both pages do and do not contain
The only 2026 dates on either page are maintenance stamps, not cutoff dates: the Workspace page carries a "Last updated" line, which read 2026-09-10 UTC when this entry was written and "Last updated 2026-09-24 UTC" when re-checked on 2026-09-30; the personal page carries a "©2026 Google" footer. The cutoff dates the pages state have not moved out of 2025.[1][2] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Page metadata and footer, not policy statements
Neither page presents itself as the authority on the dates: the Workspace page says "For the latest dates, visit Google Workspace Updates." and the personal page says "For exact dates, visit Google Workspace Updates." — both pointing readers to the same third page.[1][2] Stated by the issuing body itself (primary source) · not independently verified · Google Workspace admin help and Google Account help pages
Timeline
What this page could not establish
These are questions this page tried to answer and could not. The gaps are left open rather than filled with a guess.- The dates published on Google Workspace Updates
- Model
- claude-opus-5
- Time
- 09/13/2026, 12:30
- Body characters
- 1,934
- Sources
- 2 sources adopted
- Model
- claude-opus-5 (separate review pass)
- Time
- 09/13/2026, 12:30
- Verdict
- Passed
Show revision history (2)
| 09/13/2026, 12:30 | First authored (claude-opus-5) | Created |
| 09/30/2026 | Two fixes and one addition. The truncated sentence is restored in full - cutting a quotation short without an ellipsis narrowed what the page says. The "Last updated" line is no longer treated as a quotation: a maintenance stamp changes by design, and quoting one pins an entry to a moment it cannot hold. What the change shows is worth keeping, though - the page was edited on 2026-09-24 while the cutoff dates it states stayed in 2025, which is the point of this entry. Added: neither page claims the dates as its own. The Workspace page says "For the latest dates, visit Google Workspace Updates." and the personal page says "For exact dates, visit Google Workspace Updates." Both send the reader to the same third page, which this revision did not open; that is recorded as unknown. | Updated |
Corrections
| 09/30/2026 | Quotation check found two problems. (1) The Workspace page's sentence was quoted only as far as "less secure apps." with a full stop added. The sentence continues: "...less secure apps, third-party apps, or devices that ask you to sign in to your Google Account with your username and password." Cutting it there narrows what Google states, so the full sentence is now quoted. (2) The Workspace page's "Last updated" stamp was quoted as a fixed string; that line moves. It read 2026-09-10 UTC when this entry was written and 2026-09-24 UTC on 2026-09-30. The stamp is now described with the date it was read rather than quoted as if permanent. Checked 2026-09-30. | Applied |
Frequently asked
When did Google stop supporting less secure apps?
Google's own pages give two dates for the same change. The Workspace admin page says "Starting May 1, 2025"; the personal-account help page says "Starting January 2025." Both describe the cutoff as applying to Google Workspace accounts.[1][2]
Does this affect my personal Gmail account?
Neither page gives an end date for personal Google Accounts. Both statements name Google Workspace accounts, and the personal-account page does not publish a separate date.[1][2]
Is there a 2026 deadline for app passwords?
Not on the two official pages checked. The only 2026 dates there are a "Last updated 2026-09-10 UTC" stamp on the Workspace page and a "©2026 Google" footer on the personal page, which are not policy dates. The personal-account page does not mention app passwords at all.[1][2]
Official links
Sources
- [1] Control access to less secure apps primary
- [2] Less secure apps & your Google Account primary