[Software] Phones with old Android versions will lose compatibility with the Let's Encrypt certificate in 2021

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Mobile phones with old versions of Android will no longer be compatible with web pages that use the Let's Encrypt root certificate next year, which will make these web pages blocked despite being secure.

   Let's Encrypt has informed on its website that the DST Root X3 root certificate signed by IdenTrust will expire on September 1, 2021, which means that the websites that have it will no longer be compatible with software platforms such as Android.

   Specifically, the company points out that compatibility will be lost with versions prior to Android 7.1.1, that is, 33.8 percent of Android mobiles will show errors when the user visits a page with Let's Encrypt certificate.

   Faced with this situation, the company has indicated that "they have committed to having secure communications that respect privacy", but has highlighted the problem of the update in Android, which affects precisely the most vulnerable users, those who do not they can afford to buy a new cell phone every four years.

   Until the DST Root X3 root certificate expires, there will be a transition period, starting on January 11, 2021, when a change is made to the API to start using your own certificate, ISRG Root X1.

   For users of old versions of Android, Let's Encrypt recommends installing the mobile version of Firefox -it is a partner of Let’s Encrypt and has support from Android 5- as it has its own list of trusted root certificates to validate websites.