Google appears to be quietly rewriting one of Gmail’s longest-standing rules, offering users a way to change their @gmail.com email address without losing data, history, or access to core services — a shift that could affect hundreds of millions of accounts worldwide if fully rolled out.
According to an update spotted on Google’s account help pages, Gmail users can now replace their existing email address with a new one while keeping the same Google Account. That means emails, photos, files, messages, subscriptions, and service logins remain intact, eliminating a pain point that has frustrated users for years.
The change has not been formally announced. Instead, it surfaced through updated guidance on Google’s Hindi-language support page, which explicitly outlines how users can modify their Gmail address. The English-language version of the same page continues to state that Gmail addresses “usually cannot be changed,” suggesting the feature is still being tested, region-limited, or in the early stages of a phased rollout.
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The Hindi support page says the feature is “gradually rolling out to all users,” implying eventual global availability. The presence of the update only in Hindi has led to speculation that India or Hindi-speaking markets may be the first testing ground, though Google has not confirmed this. The company did not immediately respond to questions about regional availability or a broader timeline.
Under the new policy, when a user changes their Gmail address, the original email is automatically retained as an alias. Messages sent to the old address will continue to arrive in the inbox, and the original address can still be used to sign in to Google services such as Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, Google Maps, and Photos. This design appears aimed at minimizing disruption, particularly for users whose email addresses are deeply embedded in work tools, subscriptions, and third-party apps.
Google also says that all existing data remains unchanged after an address update. Emails, attachments, photos, chat histories, and cloud-stored files stay exactly where they are, tied to the same account. Users can also switch back to using the original email address later if they choose, according to a Google-translated version of the Hindi support page.
There are limits, though. Accounts that change their Gmail address cannot create another new Gmail address for 12 months, and the newly selected address cannot be deleted. These restrictions likely reflect Google’s effort to prevent repeated changes, impersonation risks, or misuse of the feature.
Until now, Gmail users who wanted a more professional or updated address — often because of addresses created in adolescence or early internet years — had to create an entirely new Google Account. That process required manual data transfers, re-linking third-party services, and updating login credentials across dozens of apps and platforms, often leading to broken integrations or lost messages. Google itself previously acknowledged that changing a Gmail address was not supported in most cases.
The quiet nature of the update suggests Google may be moving cautiously, testing user behavior and technical impacts before making a broader announcement. Gmail is deeply embedded across consumer, business, and developer ecosystems, and even small changes to account identity can have far-reaching consequences for security, authentication, and data integrity.
The timing is also notable. Google has been under growing pressure to modernize long-standing account limitations as competition intensifies from newer communication platforms and as users demand more control over digital identity. Allowing address changes without account disruption aligns with broader trends toward portability and flexibility in online services.
However, the absence of an official announcement currently leaves several questions unanswered, including which users qualify, whether paid Google Workspace accounts are included, and how the feature interacts with enterprise security policies. Deeper clarity is likely to come once Google updates its English-language documentation or issues a formal statement.
Still, if rolled out globally as indicated, the change would mark one of Gmail’s most significant user-centric updates in years, offering long-time account holders a rare chance to shed outdated email identities without sacrificing the digital history tied to them.