You'll Finally Be Able to Change Your Gmail Address

One of the most annoying restrictions in Gmail is that, once you've picked an email address, you're stuck with it. There are exceptions for third-party addresses, like work emails tied to a company's domain, but for the typical @gmail.com account, no dice. Personally, I've had a number of loyalty programs and store accounts tied to an embarrassingly edgy email from high school for decades now, but finally, it seems like I'll be able to change it.

A recently updated Google support page says the company is now "gradually rolling out" the ability to change your Gmail address, with some limitations. Oddly, the page was only available in Hindi when it was first posted in late December, and I did not hear back when I reached out to Google for clarification about where and when the feature will be available. The support page did say (through a machine translation) that the feature's coming "to all users," but now, it's finally been officially posted in English.

When the support page was first updated, I checked if I could change any of my personal Gmail addresses, but no luck. Now that it's in English, I checked again, but I still seem unable to make the change. But the addition of English to the company's messaging does imply that the feature will make its way to English-speaking territories soon, if it's not rolling out already. I've reached out to Google for confirmation on this, but did not immediately hear back.

Once the feature rolls out to you, here's how you'll be able to change your Gmail address.

1. On a computer or mobile device, navigate to myaccount.google.com/google-account-email.

2. At the top of the page, click or tap Personal Info.

3. Under Email, Click or Tap on Google Account Email.

4. From there, click or tap on Change Google Account Email and enter your updated email address.

Note that while these are the official English instructions, they match the original instructions provided in Hindi.

There are a couple of wrinkles to changing your Gmail address, however. The big one is that emails sent to your old address will still be sent to your new one, and that your old email may still show up instead of your new one in some cases, like on Calendar events created before you changed your address. That's because your former name will be listed as an alias for the account, rather than deleted. That could be a pain if you're trying to leave old contacts behind, but it'll also ensure important contacts don't get lost in the shuffle, and it'll keep anyone else from registering a new account with that email address. You'll also still be able to use your old Gmail address to sign into any accounts associated with it, and regardless of which name you sign in with, you'll still have access to all of your messages, photos, and other files.

You can also revert to your old address at any time, but as for changing it to a new address, you can only do it once a year, and only three times total. So no changing it to a wacky new address every Halloween and then back to normal come November.

Google also warns that changing your Gmail address will require Chromebook users to remove their old account from their device, and then re-add it with the new email address. Chrome Remote Desktop users will also need to follow these steps. Using "Sign in With Google" on third-party sites could also pose issues for those who don't want to sign in with their old Gmail address, although Google has a number of fixes that you can try, with varying guarantees of success.

Still, it should be a major quality-of-life upgrade, and should help Google's email service better catch up to more permissive email providers like Proton. No more sounding like an edgelord every time I talk to the checkout clerk at Sephora.

Update 1/15/2026: Updated with official English instructions for changing your Gmail address.