Google is rolling out ability to change your old embarrassing Gmail email address

Google is quietly testing a long-requested Gmail feature that would let users change their email address without losing their account data.

The change would allow people to replace their existing @gmail.com address while keeping all emails, files, and photos. Until now, changing a Gmail address has typically required creating an entirely new account and manually transferring data.

Unfortunately, the option currently appears only on Google’s Hindi language support pages. The wording on the page suggests the feature is gradually rolling out, rather than launching globally at once.

The page states, “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.”

But, it adds, “Important: The ability to change your Google Account email address is gradually rolling out to all users, so this option may not be available to you right now.”

English language support pages still state that Gmail addresses usually cannot be changed.

If it does become available widely, users who update their Gmail address will keep their original address as an alias. Emails sent to the old address will still land in the same inbox, and the original address will continue to work for signing in to services such as Google Drive, Maps, and YouTube.

There are limitations though, as accounts that change their Gmail address will not be able to create another new Gmail address for 12 months, and the new address also can’t be deleted once set.