After two decades of forcing users to live with questionable email choices from their youth, Google is quietly testing a feature that lets you swap your @gmail.com address without having to start from scratch.
The company updated its support documentation to reveal you can now change your Gmail username while keeping everything intact—your emails, photos, Drive files, and YouTube history all stay put. Your old address doesn't disappear either; it converts to an alias that continues receiving mail and works for signing into Google services.
The catch? The updated guidance is currently available only on Hindi-language support pages, suggesting that the rollout may begin in India or Hindi-speaking markets first. The feature is described as rolling out gradually, with no confirmed timeline for global availability.
For years, anyone wanting a new Gmail address faced an annoying choice: keep the cringeworthy handle you created in high school, or create an entirely new account and manually migrate your digital life. That second option meant losing purchase history, reconfiguring two-factor authentication across dozens of apps, and risking missed emails during the transition.
How to Check If You Can Change Your Address
The process looks straightforward once it reaches your account. Head to myaccount.google.com/google-account-email on your computer, click "Personal Info," then look for "Change Google Account email." If that option appears, you're in. If not, you're still waiting for the rollout to occur.
Enter any available username that's not currently taken (or previously used and then deleted), confirm the change, and you're done. Both addresses work for signing in, and emails sent to your old address are directed to the same inbox.
Google built in guardrails to prevent abuse. Once you change your address, you're locked out of making another change for 12 months. You also can't delete your new address during that period, although you can revert to your old one at any time.
The company warns that third-party integrations may experience issues during the transition. If you use "Sign in with Google" on other websites, connect to devices via Chrome Remote Desktop, or use a Chromebook, you may need to re-authenticate some services. Google recommends backing up your data before making the switch.
School and workplace accounts managed by IT administrators won't have access to this feature without organizational approval.
Google hasn't issued a formal announcement about the change, which was first spotted by users in a Telegram group and picked up by tech outlets earlier this week. The company declined to comment on regional availability or rollout timelines when contacted by media outlets.
For the millions stuck with addresses like "coolkid2007" or "skaterdude420," this can't come fast enough.