End for POP import in Gmail: Google extends grace period
Gmail wanted to cut POP queries for other accounts and Gmailify back in January. Now Google users get a little more time to switch.
(Image: Jess Rodriguez/Shutterstock.com)
Gmail is extending the grace period for retrieving emails from other accounts: The end for Gmailify and POP3 will now only come for new users by the end of March; existing users can continue to use it until the feature is “phased out later in 2026,” Google writes in an updated support document. The company has not yet provided a new, specific date for the postponed shutdown, nor a reason.
No more Gmail integration for external accounts
Originally, the announced end for retrieving external accounts in the web version of Gmail was planned for January. In recent weeks, the Gmail app has prominently warned of the supposedly imminent end of the functions – which, however, have continued to run smoothly so far.
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Gmailify and POP3 are two ways to integrate email accounts from other services or mail servers into the Gmail web client. Unlike a one-time import, new emails could be continuously received there and also sent using the external account's sender address via the Gmail user interface. Independently of this, Gmail accounts should continue to be retrievable in third-party clients via both IMAP and POP3 – the POP shutdown, mind you, only applies to the integration of other accounts into the Gmail web app.
No real alternatives
As an alternative, Google refers its users to set up a permanent forwarding to their Gmail address with the other email providers – but this is not a comparable replacement. Likewise, it remains possible as before to integrate other accounts via IMAP into the Gmail app for Android and iOS. However, the previous convenience functions, such as the robust Gmail spam filtering and automatic sorting into Gmail categories, are also missing here, and the third-party accounts are not accessible via the Gmail web app.
(lbe)
