You May Soon Be Able to Change Your Gmail Address

Good news for anyone tired of — or embarrassed by — their current Gmail address: Google may soon allow users to change it without losing access to existing emails or files.

As first spotted by the Google Pixel Hub group on Telegram and later reported by 9to5Google, a Hindi-language version of the Gmail support website states that Google is “gradually rolling out to all users” a new option that lets users change the email address linked to their Google account. This includes switching from an existing Gmail address to a new one that still ends in @gmail.com.

According to the information, users who make the change will be able to keep their old Gmail address as an alias. This means emails sent to the original address should continue to arrive, and users will be able to sign in to Google services using either the old or new email address. However, after making the change, users won’t be able to create additional Gmail addresses associated with the same account for 12 months.

As of Sunday afternoon, the English-language version of the Gmail support site still says that email addresses ending in @gmail.com typically can’t be changed. Instead, it currently recommends either updating the account name or creating a new Gmail address and manually transferring emails and contacts.

If rolled out globally, the update would represent a significant change in how Google handles Gmail accounts and could provide long-awaited flexibility for users unhappy with their original addresses.