Gmail Ends “Send As” for Third-Party Addresses in January 2027

Google is removing one of the oldest tricks in Gmail. Starting January 2027, personal Gmail accounts will no longer be able to send mail as a third-party address, such as an @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com or custom-domain mailbox, from Gmail on the web or in the Gmail mobile apps. The same deadline ends Gmailify and the "Check mail from other accounts" option that fetches mail from other providers over POP.

The change is confirmed on a new Google Help page on third-party account support in Gmail. Google says all affected users will receive an in-product notification, and that it will restrict new configurations of these features before the cut-off. For anyone who has used a free Gmail inbox as the front end for another address, including a small business domain, the setup has less than two months left.

What Google is removing

Google lists three features that will stop working for third-party, non-Google accounts on a primary Gmail account.

"Send as" for third-party addresses

This is the setting that lets a Gmail user pick another address in the From field and send through that provider's SMTP server. Google's page is direct: "You will no longer be able to send mail from third-party email accounts in Gmail on the web or in the Gmail mobile apps." Google gives @hotmail.com and @yahoo.com addresses as examples, but the rule applies to any address that Google does not host, which includes a domain whose mailboxes live at another host.

Gmailify

Gmailify applied Gmail features to a linked third-party account: spam protection, inbox categories, better mobile notifications and advanced search operators. A separate Google Help page on Gmailify and POP says those features will no longer be applied to third-party accounts.

"Check mail from other accounts" (POP fetching)

Gmail on the web will stop collecting messages from other mailboxes over POP. In Google's words, "Gmail will no longer fetch emails from third-party accounts into your Gmail account with POP," and the option "will no longer be available in Gmail on your computer."

The timeline

Google's main page sets out three phases:

• Q3 2026: announcement and start of the notice period, with an in-product notification to every affected user.
• Q3 to Q4 2026: transition period. "Send as" for third-party accounts, Gmailify and POP keep working, but Gmail may restrict new configurations. Google encourages users to migrate during this window.
• January 2027: Gmail fully removes "Send as" for third-party accounts, Gmailify and POP fetching.

The Gmailify and POP page adds that these two features stopped accepting new users after the first quarter of 2026, while existing users can keep using them until January 2027. Messages already imported into Gmail stay in the account.

What is not changing

The scope is narrower than the headline suggests, and the exclusions matter for anyone running mail on a domain:

• "Send as" for Google-hosted identities, meaning other Gmail addresses and Google Workspace aliases, keeps working.
• Third-party accounts can still be added in the Gmail app on Android, iPhone and iPad.
• Access to Gmail from other clients, such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail, over IMAP, POP or the Gmail API is not affected.
• Automatic forwarding from another provider into Gmail still works.
• A one-time import of mail and contacts on the web is still possible, without continuous sync.

Google's recommended alternatives

Google offers three options for people who relied on these features: use the other provider's own website or app (for example outlook.com or mail.yahoo.com), connect the account to a desktop mail client over IMAP and SMTP, or add it to the Gmail mobile app. For a custom domain, Google's FAQ points to Google Workspace, where the domain is hosted by Google and "Send as" aliases remain supported. Workspace administrators can use Google's data migration service to move existing mailboxes.

Google also warns against third-party "Send as" replacement tools and browser extensions that ask for account credentials or OAuth tokens. Handing a mailbox password or token to an unknown extension to keep an old workflow alive is a security risk, and Google explicitly advises against it.

Action checklist

• Open Gmail settings on the web, in the Accounts and Import tab, and list every address under "Send mail as" and "Check mail from other accounts".
• Separate Google and non-Google addresses: other Gmail addresses and Workspace aliases keep working; everything else needs a new home.
• Set up automatic forwarding at the other provider if you still want incoming mail in Gmail, and check how forwarding interacts with SPF and DMARC.
• Pick a sending path for each third-party address: the provider's webmail, a desktop client over IMAP and SMTP with the provider's own server settings, or the Gmail mobile app.
• Consider moving the domain to Google Workspace if you want to keep sending as a custom address from the Gmail interface.
• Avoid "Send as" replacement extensions that ask for your mailbox password or an OAuth token.
• Migrate before January 2027, not on the day: Gmail may block changes to these settings during the transition.

Sources

1. Google Gmail Help: Learn about changes to third-party email account support in Gmail (primary source)
2. Google Gmail Help: Learn about upcoming changes to Gmailify and POP in Gmail

Related on SMTPedia

• Gmail SMTP, IMAP and POP3 settings
• Email forwarding: setup and DMARC pitfalls
• How to create an email alias in Google Workspace