diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 45060095ac8..825a91e6955 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+- Marks Java 11 and below as deprecated. Support will be dropped in Firebase CLI v15. Please upgrade to Java version 21 or above to continue using the emulators.
 - Fix Functions MCP log tool to normalize sort order and surface Cloud Logging error details (#9247)
diff --git a/src/emulator/commandUtils.ts b/src/emulator/commandUtils.ts
index 0c59fe1628f..43cd9a72b05 100644
--- a/src/emulator/commandUtils.ts
+++ b/src/emulator/commandUtils.ts
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ export async function checkJavaMajorVersion(): Promise<number> {
   });
 }
 
-export const MIN_SUPPORTED_JAVA_MAJOR_VERSION = 11;
+export const MIN_SUPPORTED_JAVA_MAJOR_VERSION = 21;
 export const JAVA_DEPRECATION_WARNING =
-  "firebase-tools no longer supports Java versions before 11. " +
-  "Please install a JDK at version 11 or above to get a compatible runtime.";
+  "firebase-tools will drop support for Java version < 21 soon in firebase-tools@15. " +
+  "Please install a JDK at version 21 or above to get a compatible runtime.";
diff --git a/src/emulator/controller.ts b/src/emulator/controller.ts
index 71eb122d9e9..88004d71783 100755
--- a/src/emulator/controller.ts
+++ b/src/emulator/controller.ts
@@ -295,10 +295,11 @@ export async function startAll(
       `No emulators to start, run ${clc.bold("firebase init emulators")} to get started.`,
     );
   }
+  const deprecationNotices: string[] = [];
   if (targets.some(requiresJava)) {
     if ((await commandUtils.checkJavaMajorVersion()) < MIN_SUPPORTED_JAVA_MAJOR_VERSION) {
       utils.logLabeledError("emulators", JAVA_DEPRECATION_WARNING, "warn");
-      throw new FirebaseError(JAVA_DEPRECATION_WARNING);
+      deprecationNotices.push(JAVA_DEPRECATION_WARNING);
     }
   }
   if (options.logVerbosity) {
@@ -1039,7 +1040,7 @@ export async function startAll(
     is_demo_project: String(isDemoProject),
   });
 
-  return { deprecationNotices: [] };
+  return { deprecationNotices };
 }
 
 function getListenConfig(