On a Google support page, the company says it is rolling out a new option to let users change their email address even if it is an “@gmail.com” address.
For quite some time now, Google has allowed users to change their account email address if they are using a third-party email address, but users with an “@gmail.com” address are left unable to change it, as Google says:
If your account’s email address ends in @gmail.com, you usually can’t change it.
It appears this is changing.
On the same support page that currently says that you usually can’t change your email, Google is detailing a new process that is “gradually rolling out.” The altered page weirdly only shows in Hindi at the moment, meaning you can’t see the changes in English. Everything quoted below is translated. The page was first spotted in the “Google Pixel Hub” group on Telegram.
Google explains:
The email address associated with your Google Account is the address you use to sign in to Google services. This email address helps you and others identify your account. If you’d like, you can change your Google Account email address that ends in gmail.com to a new email address that ends in gmail.com.
This is new functionality that Google hasn’t detailed elsewhere yet, but says is “gradually rolling out to all users.”
With this change, Google will allow users to change their “@gmail.com” email address to a new “@gmail.com” address with an altered username. After changing, Google details that your original email address will still receive emails at the same inbox as your new one and work for sign-in, and that none of your account access will change. Users will be unable to change or delete their email within 12 months of the change.
When you change your Google Account email address from an email address ending in gmail.com to a new email address ending in gmail.com:
- The old email address in your Google Account that ends with gmail.com will be set as an alias. Learn more about alias email addresses .
- You will receive emails at both your old and new email addresses.
- Data saved in your account, including photos, messages, and emails sent to your old email address, will not be affected.
- You can reuse your old Google Account email address at any time. However, you can’t create a new Google Account email address that ends with gmail.com for the next 12 months. You can’t delete your new email address either.
- You can sign in to Google services like Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Google Play, or Drive with your old or new email address.
Each account can only change its “@gmail.com” address up to 3 times for a total of 4 addresses.
Google further details that your old Gmail address will still appear in some cases, and “won’t be immediately reflected in older instances” such as events on Calendar created before the change. You’ll also still be able to send emails from the old address. The old address remains yours and cannot be used by another user.
The page is very detailed on the process, but the changes just aren’t live yet. Presumably, this support page detailing the process in Hindi went up a little earlier than intended, but it certainly seems that we’ll be hearing more about this change in the coming weeks.
When the functionality goes live, users will be able to change their Gmail address via “My Account.”
We’ll update this article if further information comes out.
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