diff --git a/lib/Models/Subscriber.php b/lib/Models/Subscriber.php
index d927ecc862..203899345b 100644
--- a/lib/Models/Subscriber.php
+++ b/lib/Models/Subscriber.php
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ class Subscriber extends Model {
   const STATUS_BOUNCED = 'bounced';
   const STATUS_INACTIVE = 'inactive';
 
+  const DEPRECATED_LINK_TOKEN_LENGTH = 6;
   const LINK_TOKEN_LENGTH = 32;
+
   /** @var string|bool */
   public $token;
 
@@ -121,7 +123,10 @@ class Subscriber extends Model {
     return self::where('wp_user_id', $wp_user->ID)->findOne();
   }
 
-  static function generateToken($email = null, $length = 32) {
+  /**
+   * @deprecated Only for backward compatibility for old tokens
+   */
+  static function generateToken($email = null, $length = self::DEPRECATED_LINK_TOKEN_LENGTH) {
     if ($email !== null) {
       $auth_key = '';
       if (defined('AUTH_KEY')) {
diff --git a/tests/integration/Models/SubscriberTest.php b/tests/integration/Models/SubscriberTest.php
index 8608af7b63..98005c5b0a 100644
--- a/tests/integration/Models/SubscriberTest.php
+++ b/tests/integration/Models/SubscriberTest.php
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ class SubscriberTest extends \MailPoetTest {
 
   function testItGeneratesSubscriberToken() {
     $token = Subscriber::generateToken($this->test_data['email']);
-    expect(strlen($token))->equals(32);
+    expect(strlen($token))->equals(6);
   }
 
   function testItVerifiesSubscriberToken() {