Google has introduced a feature that lets users change the ID portion of their existing Gmail address. It allows users to change their email address without creating a new account.
According to the IT industry on the 28th, Google on the 26th (local time) unveiled a feature on its official account support page that allows users to change the ID of Google account emails ending in gmail.com to a new name.
Google said, "The feature is rolling out gradually and may not yet appear for some users in certain regions." It did not disclose the regions currently covered or the specific rollout order.
The new feature's hallmark is that users can change only the address while maintaining the continuity of the account. Emails sent to the existing Gmail address will continue to be received after the change, and logins to other Google services such as Google Drive, Maps, and YouTube will also remain as is without any separate settings changes.
Industry watchers see this move as an extension of Google's strategy to strengthen account unification. Because Google accounts are structured to link most major services based on SSO (single sign-on), the email address change is also seen as a measure to improve account management convenience.
An industry official said, "Many users have complained about the inconvenience of having to use an email address made for fun when they were young for a long time," and noted, "With this feature, the management burden will be reduced not only for individual users but also for corporate account users."