The tech giant confirmed the update through a support page that appeared first in Hindi, suggesting an initial rollout in India before expanding globally.
Google stated it is “gradually rolling out” the new change allowing users to change their Gmail address, marking a significant departure from its longstanding policy.
Breaking Down the Barriers
Until now, Google users with addresses ending in @gmail.com were stuck with the usernames they chose when creating their accounts — a policy that left many users frustrated with embarrassing, outdated, or no longer appropriate email addresses from their youth.
The new feature allows users to change their username via the My Account settings, with the old email address being retained as an alias, ensuring continuity in communications and service access.
According to the support documentation, users will be able to access the new feature through their Google Account settings at myaccount.google.com. The process is designed to be seamless, with several key protections in place.
How It Works
When users change their Gmail address, their original address becomes an alias. This means emails sent to both the old and new addresses will arrive in the same inbox.
The old address will continue to work for signing into Google services including Maps, YouTube, Drive, and Gmail itself. Most importantly, all existing data — photos stored in Google Photos, files in Drive, Gmail messages, and years of correspondence — remains completely intact.
Google has implemented several safeguards including a 12-month waiting period between changes and a three-change limit per account to prevent abuse of the system.
Limitations and Considerations
The new feature comes with specific parameters. Users can only change from one @gmail.com address to another @gmail.com address — switching to custom domains or third-party email providers isn’t supported through this feature.
Each account is limited to three changes total, meaning users will have a maximum of four Gmail addresses throughout their account’s lifetime.
After making a change, users must wait a full year before they can modify their email address again, and the new address cannot be deleted during this period. The original username remains tied to the user’s account and cannot be claimed by another user.
Google also notes that while the change affects the primary email, the old address may still appear in certain legacy instances, such as calendar events created before the modification.
For millions of Gmail users who have long requested this capability, the update represents a welcome acknowledgment that digital identities should have room to evolve alongside the people who create them.
Google has not made any formal announcement or issued a press release about the change; it was reportedly first identified through user forums and tech community discussions.
