Warning: Google Discontinuing Gmailify in January 2026

Russ on 04/10/2025 - 13:47

If you're currently using Gmail's "Gmailify" feature to fetch emails from other email providers, and show them in your Gmail account, that ability will stop in January 2026 - only 3 months away!

I haven't received any warnings about this, and I've been using Gmailify for years. Gmailify lets me have email accounts with other email providers, and fetches all of those emails into my Gmail account every 15 minutes.

Here's the Google article about it, I won't call it an announcement as they haven't announced it!
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/16604719

Although that article implies that only fetching email via POP will be stopped, as the ENTIRE Gmailify feature is being removed, fetching email via IMAP will also stop.

If you're using the Gmail App, you apparently will still be able to fetch mail from other accounts - but that's just an email client fetching mail from multiple email accounts, not the same as what Gmailify did. And absolutely useless if you normally use Gmail's web interface on a desktop PC.

Most free email providers have previously removed the ability to auto-forward all incoming emails, so I can't see an easy way, moving forward, to do what Gmailify is currently doing. The closest option for desktop PCs is to install an email client like Thunderbird, install it on every PC you want to check your email on, and configure Thunderbird to check all of your email accounts.

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Comments

  • FireRunner on 04/10/2025 - 14:18
    +9

    Another one for the google cemetery
    https://killedbygoogle.com/

  • tenpercent on 04/10/2025 - 14:23
    +2

    The closest option for desktop PCs is to install an email client like Thunderbird, install it on every PC you want to check your email on, and configure Thunderbird to check all of your email accounts.

    It will be more private too with Google not reading all your emails from other email providers.

    • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 15:19
      +1

      with Google not reading all your emails from other email providers.

      Haha, more fool on them. The other email accounts are the ones I give out to websites. If google wants to read all the advertising emails I get from SuperCheap, The Iconic and others, they're welcome to it. I keep the advertising emails turned on, so if I think I need something, I can see how often it goes on sale. For instance, "my car tyres are getting close to the wear markers. How often do tyres go on special, and are they on special at the moment?"

      • 7ekn00 on 04/10/2025 - 20:11
        +1

        What was the point of using other services for this?!?

        You do know you can do youremail+fakeiconictag@gmail.com (and also filter via that +fakeiconictag) … really silly to be using other domains just for website / advertiser purposes :/

        You can have 100s of +tag (like +000 +001 +002, etc etc)

        • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 21:16
          +1

          Yahoo has an even better system, so if I delete one of those aliases, emails sent to that alias bounce. It's an excellent way to keep spam in control. I give a unique email address to every website, and if they get hacked, I can bounce all future emails. And there's no way that spammers can trim off the "plus address" part and get through.

          I was lucky, I was using the Yahoo system years ago, and it was grandfathered into my free account. It's not available to new free email accounts anymore.

          • Kandrew on 05/10/2025 - 17:45
            +1

            @Russ: I also have that Yahoo system - it's fantastic!

            I didn't realise that it wasn't available to new free email accounts now. That's a bit sad.

            • Russ on 05/10/2025 - 22:38
              +1

              @Kandrew: It is fantastic, although Yahoo should have been clearer that the "base name" can't be changed after it has been set. I wish I had taken more care, and not chosen a long base name.

              I only discovered it was no longer available when I wanted to set it up for some teenage relatives, so they could start using aliases before they had given their emails out to a large number of companies.

              I've since been working on instructions on how to do a similar thing with Gmail's "plus addressing" and filtering, but without gmailify, it's much harder to make it work with an existing email address.

  • CascadeHush on 04/10/2025 - 14:24

    Well consider yourself lucky you got a warning because sometimes they just turn off features with no warning at all.

    • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 15:10
      +2

      consider yourself lucky you got a warning

      I didn't get any warning. I was looking up why filters weren't applying to mail fetched by Gmailify, and stumbled upon the information.

      Hence why I made the post - to warn anyone else affected.

  • boomramada on 04/10/2025 - 14:51
    +9

    I just learnt what is Gmailify, and reason to discontinue, not enough people using it. 🤣🤣

    • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 15:09
      -1

      and reason to discontinue, not enough people using it

      Google didn't say any such thing. You're making stuff up.

      • jv on 04/10/2025 - 15:43

        Just because Google didn’t say it does not mean it’s not true.

      • boomramada on 04/10/2025 - 17:39
        -1

        Your google must be broken, that is the first thing came with the google AI 😅

        Btw

        my Gmail account every 15 minutes

        That's pretty SLOW even for year 2000

        • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 21:21

          that is the first thing came with the google AI

          I did ask AI, and it told me a different story (that the reason is POP being insecure, and Google wants better security). Not that I would trust it anyway, I actually check the links provided by AI, and about half the time it's wrong. More than half the time if any counting or mathematics is involved.

          That's pretty SLOW

          This is email, not instant messaging. If you know of a faster way, please tell me.

  • Far Cough on 04/10/2025 - 15:28
    +2

    wow never knew this was a thing

  • jv on 04/10/2025 - 15:42
    +1

    I just use Outlook

    • Clear on 04/10/2025 - 15:45

      New or classic

      • jv on 04/10/2025 - 15:45

        I’ve not tried the new one yet. Have you?

        • Clear on 04/10/2025 - 15:49
          +3

          Yes don't do it until we're forced to next year. Still very much a "beta".

    • Stormnut on 05/10/2025 - 11:30

      Outlook Express PRO 5 here. Just like the old Outlook Express and better. Does cost though.

  • soan papdi on 04/10/2025 - 17:53

    Set up email forwarding from other services. I have it from outlook.com to Gmail. Works fine.

    • Russ on 04/10/2025 - 21:25
      -2

      The other email services I use ( mostly Yahoo) don't do forwarding except to their own accounts.

      And with Gmailify, I can reply to the "forwarded" emails from Gmail, and Gmail sends the reply through the other provider's server. So the reply says it came from the other provider, not from Gmail.

  • JimmyF on 04/10/2025 - 17:56

    Google Discontinuing Gmailify

    never heard of it, won't be missed….

  • mike6969 on 05/10/2025 - 07:30
    +1

    I never heard of it either but if you want to run the android app on your pc you can use an emulator eg bluestacks

    • Russ on 06/10/2025 - 00:58

      That's an interesting possibility.

      Using the web version of Gmail, if anyone sends me an attachment of a word document, or an excel spreadsheet, or a pdf, then those files open immediately in a new webpage when clicked. Even though I don't have Word or Excel.

      On my Android mobile, clicking on the same attachment only gives me the option to download, there's no way I can view the contents of those files.

      Do you know which way an emulated Gmail app will behave?

  • jonkvh on 05/10/2025 - 07:32
    +1

    Just use Fastmail. Haven't & won't use free email providers for years. There's too many features you miss out on with free providers.

    • Russ on 05/10/2025 - 13:59
      +1

      There's too many features you miss out on with free providers

      Such as…?

    • rowanb1 on 05/10/2025 - 14:28
      +1

      +1 for Fastmail. I switched to them recently and haven't looked back. Not a free service though.

      Aliases, masked email, privacy, good app, etc..
      https://www.fastmail.com/features/

  • VW-Kombi on 05/10/2025 - 09:14
    +3

    I pay for a service called ‘gomailify’. They say they will have a backend process that goes the same thing before the three months are up.

    It’s $10/year.

    It allows me to have a normal free Gmail account, and still have my own domain email (which I use for my business). I converted years back instead of paying $8.50/m for google workspace. On Gmail web using my ‘free email’, it uses the send as for my own domain name (company email). So businesses still think it’s ’professional’. Same works from Gmail app on phone then.

    I msged them when I heard about Google dropping the pulling from pop3, and they said they know and will have a back end process on their servers that will do the same thing when needed.

    • Russ on 05/10/2025 - 13:55

      Thanks, but I don't think that does what I'm looking for. Gomailify actually say
      "While the name is confusingly the same, Gmail's Gmailify serves a whole different purpose."

      Link: https://www.gomailify.com/docs#t1-4

      I'm using gmailify to present my Yahoo emails in my Gmail inbox, so I only have to check one inbox to see all my emails. And if I reply to one of the Yahoo emails, the recipient sees that it came from my Yahoo account, they never learn of my Gmail account.

      Gomailify sounds like it will present emails to a personally-owned domain in Gmail, and Gomailify only mentions Yahoo in the section where they explain what Gmailify does.

  • The Hawk on 05/10/2025 - 14:24

    Is Gmailify different to just setting up basic email fetching (and sending) within your existing gmail account?
    I've got about 5 different things dragged together in Gmail, something I will need to find an alternative for if this dies.

    In my case I can forward email from my different domains so I've got some time on the collection side. But sending via those different addresses is something I also need.

    • Russ on 05/10/2025 - 14:31

      Is Gmailify different to just setting up basic email fetching (and sending) within your existing gmail account?

      If you're fetching and sending via IMAP, you're using Gmailify. There was apparently a way to set up POP fetching without using Gmailify, that's being stopped too.

      In my case I can forward email from my different domains

      If you own the domains, Gomailify.com (mentioned above) may help. But their current explanations of how their system works is completely dependent on POP, so they'll need a new method in 2026.

      I'm hoping Gomailify.com will update their explanations soon.

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