There is a support note, if you can find it. Here’s the link. “Starting January 2026,” Google tells users of the world’s most popular email platform, "Gmail will no longer support checking emails from third-party accounts through POP. The option to ‘Check mail from other accounts’ will no longer be available in Gmail on your computer."

The aim is to transform Gmail from a traditional inbox into what Google describes as a “personal, proactive inbox assistant.”

Google is expanding its Artificial Intelligence in all of its product’s - be it the Gemini AI Studio, that was behind the viral Nano Banana or Ghibli .

Gmail is phasing out syncing email from third-party email accounts via POP. Users can shift to IMAP, but it's not quite the same.

Under the shift, which Google said would eventually be rolled out to all users, old addresses would remain active. Messages and services would not be lost.

"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."

Update, Nov. 17, 2024: This story, originally published Nov. 15 now includes details of another new Google communications addressing update to add to the privacy feature coming to Gmail users. The question of who a given Gmail address really belongs to ...

A Gmail address change feature lets users replace their @gmail.com email while keeping inbox history, Google Drive files, photos and purchase data intact.