Google is planning a change to enable Gmail users to change their usernames, new support documents have been revealed. So, if you have an old @gmail.com email address you’re less than thrilled with, Google appears to be offering an amnesty.
While there has been no official announcement yet, Google’s revised help pages in India, which were first spotted by a Google Pixel Hub Telegram channel, tells us the option is forthcoming. It is currently unavailable in the US and UK.
Google advises that both the old and new email addresses will continue to receive emails and that all data will be preserved after the change. That’ll be entirely necessary because of the dozens upon dozens of accounts associated with the original username.
The translated help page explains: “The data saved in your account will not be affected. This includes things like photos, messages, and emails sent to your old email address,” Google writes. “The old email address of your Google account can be used again at any time. However, for the next 12 months, a new Google account email address with gmail.com last being created. Your new email address cannot be deleted. You can sign in to Google’s services such as Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Google Play or Drive with your old or new email address.”
Should users decide to change their email address they’ll need to be sure because it lasts for the next twelve months. Lest there be another embarrassing mistake like the one I made all those years ago when Gmail still went by Googlemail in the UK and I chose 19 character username. We’ll keep you posted when the change comes into effect in the US and UK. I’ll be at the front of the queue.
