Google May Soon Allow Gmail Address Changes Without Data Loss for Indian Users

AndroBranch
18 hours ago
3 min read

For a staggering number of users, a Gmail ID means much more than just a “to” and “from” in their communication system it represents their digital identity, which is connected with banking, government, job, and personal conversations from years back. If you still have a Gmail ID created back in school or college and do not even remotely connect with it anymore, Google might just have the much-needed fix for this in store for you. A new update has revealed that Google has begun the process of issuing a new feature which provides users with an option of changing their Gmail ID without creating a new one and losing their precious data, and initial reports clearly indicate that India might be one of the first countries to receive this feature.

The feature has been found in Google’s official account help pages, where the policy update has so far only been visible on the support page written in the Hindi language. What's surprising, however, is that on the English support page, it's still mentioned that Gmail addresses “usually cannot be changed.” This contrast between the two strongly suggests that either Google may be conducting a test on this feature within India or that they are favoring regions where the Hindi language is spoken first. Until now, there has been no official public statement released by Google.

The implication is that with this new policy, one will be able to use the new email address while retaining the same Google account, which means all the data linked to that address will remain untouched. For people who use their Gmail accounts as their universal login for dozens of other sites, this kind of transformation is quite important since one will no longer have to start all over again for the sake of having a more professional or relevant email address.

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Perhaps the most comforting thing about this update is that Google is in no way compelling their users to change their old Gmail account or ID that they have been using all these years. Their old ID has now been converted into an alias that functions in a way that all emails that are meant for that particular ID are reachable in this inbox only, and even their login process can be carried out in that old Gmail ID if needed.

Until now, a change in a Gmail address has been a rather impractical task. The only way was to make a completely new Google account and then import all data manually. Trust me when I say that I know what a nightmare this can be, as all subscriptions must be reset, app permissions are no longer valid, and there are certain pieces of data that simply cannot be carried over.

That said, clear limitations will be imposed to stop the misuse of this new feature. Once one has changed a Gmail address, for instance, users will not be allowed to create another new Gmail address for the next 12 months. Also, the newly selected email address cannot be deleted later on. These limitations imply that Google wants users to treat it as a one-time or rare correction and not one that changes usernames now and then for maintaining account security and platform integrity.

Currently, the availability is expected to be very limited and incremental. Not many users, including some beta testers, have the feature available for them yet. Google has not yet confirmed an international rollout timing either. The fact that the new policy is available for the support page in the Hindi language is a very clear indicator that the Indian market is a part of the beta testers as well. This is definitely an important development for users in the Indian market, who may use Gmail for business and financial purposes.

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From a competitive perspective, this is an effective move that will make Google’s email solution more standard with respect to the ever-changing landscape of email. iCloud Mail from Apple has offered aliases, while fully private email solutions such as ProtonMail make it easier to handle multiple email addresses and change primary email addresses though often only within paid options and on a much smaller scale. Adding this option to Gmail’s current platform of over a billion users is an improvement that has been needed for many years.

Although it might still take a while for this feature to be generally available, the trend is evident. Google seems to understand that people grow, their work path changes, and one’s online identity should be able to change along with it without having to sacrifice a few years’ worth of data in the bargain.