Google discontinues Gmailify and the POP‑based accounts feature in Gmail
Gmailify and the POP‑based “Check mail from other accounts” feature are being discontinued, with the process starting in January 2026.
Google has quietly announced a significant change to how Gmail handles external email accounts: Gmailify and the POP‑based “Check mail from other accounts” feature are being discontinued, with the process starting in January 2026. For millions of users who rely on Gmail as a central hub for multiple inboxes, this shift marks the end of an era—and a nudge toward newer, more secure ways of managing email.
What exactly is going away
Gmailify was introduced nearly a decade ago as a way to bring the power of Gmail’s spam filters, inbox categories, and search to non‑Google accounts like Yahoo, AOL, or Outlook/Hotmail. It let you keep your existing email address while enjoying Gmail’s interface and features, making it a favorite among users who wanted a unified inbox without migrating their accounts.
Now, Google is sunsetting that service. Alongside Gmailify, the POP‑based “Check mail from other accounts” option in Gmail’s web interface is also being removed. This feature allowed Gmail to periodically pull messages from external accounts into your Gmail inbox via POP3, effectively turning Gmail into a central email aggregator.
What still works—and what doesn’t
Despite these changes, Gmail’s core functionality remains intact. You can still access your Gmail account via POP and IMAP from desktop and mobile email clients like Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail. The discontinuation affects only Gmail’s ability to fetch mail from other providers using POP, not your ability to use Gmail as a source for other apps.
On mobile, you can continue to add external accounts (such as Outlook or Yahoo) to the Gmail app using IMAP, though without the extra Gmailify features like smart categories and advanced spam filtering. This means you can still see messages from other accounts in one place, but with fewer Gmail‑specific enhancements.
What users should do next
If you depend on Gmailify or POP‑fetched external accounts, Google recommends switching to IMAP in the Gmail mobile apps or setting up automatic forwarding from your other providers into Gmail. Forwarding ensures that new messages from your external accounts still appear in your Gmail inbox, even after the POP feature is turned off.
It’s also worth noting that emails already imported into Gmail before the deprecation will remain in your inbox; only new messages will stop being fetched once the features are disabled. For businesses and power users, this is a good opportunity to review email workflows and consider whether a dedicated email client or a different email provider might better suit their needs.
Why Google is making this move
Google has not provided a detailed public explanation, but industry analysts suggest the change is part of a broader effort to streamline services, improve security, and encourage the use of more modern protocols like IMAP. POP has long been criticized for its limitations, including the inability to synchronize folders and the risk of losing messages if they’re downloaded and deleted from the server. By phasing out POP‑based fetching, Google is nudging users toward more robust and secure email management practices.
For many, this change may go unnoticed; for others, it’s a reminder that the digital landscape is constantly evolving. As Gmail moves forward, users will need to adapt—but the tools to do so are already within reach.
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