- The option to change to another @gmail.com is being implemented
- It appears to be limited by region at the moment.
- You can still keep your current email address
For as long as Gmail has existed (over 20 years now), the primary email address you get when you first open your account has been the one you had to keep. Now it seems that is changing.
As discovered by the Google Pixel Hub group on Telegram (via 9to5Google), there was a change to the relevant support page in the official help documentation for Google accounts, which says that it is possible to set up a new @gmail.com email address.
There are a few caveats, however: First, the updated help instructions only appear in Hindi at the moment. Second, the page says that the new feature is “gradually rolling out to all users, so this option may not be available to you at this time.”
With both warnings in mind, and no other official comment yet, it seems that Google might not be fully committed to this measure. However, it seems like there’s a good chance that you’ll soon be able to get a new Gmail address without having to set up a whole new Google account at the same time.
The small print
According to the support document, if you change one @gmail.com address to another, the old email address will remain as an alias. You’ll still be able to send and receive emails from the old address, and you’ll still be able to sign in to related apps and sites (like Google Maps or YouTube) with your old or new address.
You can even return to having your old address as the primary address for your account, if you wish. However, once a new @gmail.com address is set as the primary address, you will not be able to attach a new one for 12 months.
The primary @gmail.com for each Google account can be changed a total of three times (leaving you with four @gmail.com addresses and aliases in total), so it’s worth spending some time and thinking about the new addresses you set.
If you set up a new email address, no one else will be able to use your old one, and it will still appear in some places (like old Google Calendar events). Your email address can be changed through your Google account page, but it still doesn’t appear for me.
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