Google is removing the option to “Check mail from other accounts” in Gmail, which means users will no longer be able to manage email from multiple accounts within Gmail.
Starting January 2026, Gmail will no longer provide support for the following feature: Check mail from other accounts: Fetching emails from third-party accounts into your Gmail account, with POP, will no longer be supported ~ <source>
If you use Gmail to manage a Gmail account, only you will be affected. However, if you use Gmail to manage email from other (3rd-party) sources, you will no longer have that ability, starting from January 2026.
Considering Gmail’s massive popularity, this is a somewhat surprising move by Google. Don’t quote me on this, but I suspect it has something to do with forwarded emails’ susceptibility to being flagged as SPAM.
The Alternatives
There are only two alternatives that I can see:
- Manage each email account separately
- Install a 3rd-party email client
There is no shortage of 3rd-party email clients. Thunderbird and Betterbird are both free and open source, and both also support managing multiple email accounts from within the application.
- Read our Betterbird review: Betterbird – A Better Thunderbird?
BOTTOM LINE:
Many users will be unhappy with this decision by Google, and while there might be a good reason behind it, Google could have done a much better job of explaining that reasoning.
Do you use Gmail to manage multiple email accounts? If so, what are your plans once this comes into effect?
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