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Google has recently introduced a significant change in one of its oldest policies and has started rolling out a feature that will allow users to change their Gmail address without necessarily opening a new account.
This ends years of redundancy for Google users who were stuck with their Gmail addresses after opening an account. The feature has been implemented in stages and is not yet accessible to everyone.
Until recently, Google usually allowed users to change their account email address only if it was connected to another address. Gmail accounts did not have the flexibility of being changed, requiring a person to start an altogether new account if they wanted a new identity.
With this change, it is possible to change the username part of a Gmail address while using the same Google account. There will be no effect on emails, contacts, Drive files, Photos, subscriptions, or applications.
According to reports based on new Google support documentation, the original Gmail address would still be used as an alias. Mail sent to either the old or the new email address would be received in the same inbox, and users would be able to sign in with either email ID.
Thus, it helps maintain continuity for people who may have already linked their old address to accounts with banks, social media sites, or official records.
Google can be expected to set boundaries to avoid much change. One may be required to change the Gmail address only once in 12 months, and at the end of the lifetime of the account, the number of changes can be limited. These may change during the implementation process.
In some legacy services, for example, in older calendar invitations or cached account pointers, it might be possible to see the original email address.
After it is activated on an account, this feature is expected to appear alongside other Google Account settings. For now, there is no official rollout schedule from Google for its availability across all accounts globally.
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The upgrade solves the problem that many people had who created their Gmail identity in childhood and later in life realized it was unprofessional or outdated. The service would offer the user the ability to create a more updated identity without having to start all over again.
Moving forward, users are encouraged to implement changes via official account settings while being cautious about phishing scams based on the integrated function.
