If you happen to’ve been utilizing Gmail because the “one inbox to rule all of them,” your digital hub is about to get lots smaller.
Google has confirmed it’s shutting down two main Gmail options that allow customers handle exterior e-mail accounts, resembling Yahoo, Outlook, or work addresses, from the Gmail internet interface. Beginning this month, Gmailify and POP3 mail fetching might be retired, forcing many energy customers to rethink how they handle a number of inboxes.
For years, a function known as Gmailify allowed customers to hyperlink their non-Google accounts to Gmail to get the “Google remedy.” This meant your previous Yahoo or Hotmail inbox abruptly had entry to Google’s high-end spam filters, inbox classes, and superior search instruments.
In response to a Google help be aware, “Beginning January 2026, Gmail will not present help for… Gmailify.” As soon as this variation takes impact, these linked third-party accounts will lose proprietary spam safety, automated sorting into classes like “Social” or “Promotions,” enhanced cell notifications, and quicker search with superior operators.
POP3 fetching hits the scrapyard
The second main blow impacts the “Test mail from different accounts” instrument.
Since Gmail’s early days, customers may set the platform to “pull” emails from different servers utilizing the POP3 protocol. This made Gmail a handy web-based house for each e-mail id an individual owned. Nonetheless, Google’s help documentation now states that, “Fetching emails from third-party accounts into your Gmail account, with POP, will not be supported.”
Whereas Google hasn’t explicitly detailed why it’s killing the function now, business specialists level to safety. POP3 is an ageing protocol that usually transmits passwords in “plaintext,” making it a sitting duck for hackers. As TechRadar famous, “eradicating POP3 might be a safety transfer provided that the protocol shares passwords in plaintext.”
The change is more likely to inconvenience longtime customers. Forbes stories one employer saying, “I’ve simply discovered that, starting in 3 days, my staff will not be capable of obtain their work e-mail. Apparently, Google is dropping help for Gmail accounts with the ability to fetch mail from outdoors accounts.”
It’s a transfer that is smart from a safety perspective however comes with real-world complications for these accustomed to Gmail as a central hub for a number of accounts.
Easy methods to maintain your emails shifting
If you happen to depend on these options, you gained’t be utterly locked out, however you will want to regulate your habits. Google suggests two main workarounds:
- Computerized forwarding: Log in to your unique e-mail supplier (resembling Yahoo or Outlook) and arrange “Auto-Forwarding” to ship all incoming mail to your Gmail tackle. This replaces the “pull” methodology with a “push” methodology.
- The Gmail cell app: The Android and iOS apps will nonetheless assist you to add third-party accounts utilizing the extra fashionable IMAP connection.
Whereas your emails aren’t disappearing, the times of Gmail doing the heavy lifting to your different accounts are formally coming to an finish.
Additionally learn: Seven tech predictions enterprise leaders are watching in 2026.
