Gmail POP3 and Gmailify Stopped: What to Use Now

What Google is removing, and what is not changing

Only two things are ending, and neither of them is IMAP.

Gmail’s POP fetch, called “Check mail from other accounts” in Settings, logged into a Yahoo, Outlook or custom-domain mailbox and pulled new mail into Gmail. Gmailify was the layer on top: Gmail’s spam protection, inbox categories and advanced search applied to that address. Both end on the same date.

What keeps working is bigger than people expect. You can still connect to your Gmail account from Outlook, Apple Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird, because Gmail’s IMAP access stays on. Google removed the “Enable IMAP” toggle for personal accounts in January 2025, and IMAP has been on by default since.

Feature	Where it stands in October 2026	What to use instead
Check mail from other accounts (POP) in Gmail on the web	No new setups from Q2 2026; existing ones stop in January 2027	Automatic forwarding from your other provider
Gmailify, Gmail’s spam and categories on a third-party address	Same schedule, and there is no direct replacement	Nothing replaces it. Spam protection, categories and advanced search stop being applied to that address
Adding another account in the Gmail app on phone or tablet	Works, up to 5 addresses	Keep using it
Reading your @gmail.com in Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird	Unchanged	No action needed
Importing mail and contacts from another account	Works, one time only	Use it to move old mail, then forward new mail

The dates that matter

The most important fact on Google’s page is that existing setups keep running until January 2027. If mail stopped arriving today, something else is wrong, and it is worth checking before you start moving things.

Source: Learn about upcoming changes to Gmailify & POP in Gmail, Google; Add Gmail to another email client, Google, checked October 21, 2026.

Forwarding is the closest thing to what POP did

Forwarding is the option Google lists first, because it puts new mail from your other address inside your normal Gmail inbox. You set it up on the other provider’s side: find a forwarding or “send a copy to” rule in the webmail settings of your Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud or hosting account, and point it at your Gmail address. Google also points admins to a data migration service for work or school mailboxes.

The catch is deliverability. Google’s own forwarding guidance says forwarded messages often fail SPF authentication, and that DKIM authentication is especially important for forwarded mail. For a personal account, Google recommends adding your other address to Gmail’s “Send mail as” setting, so replies and authentication line up. Practical advice: forward, then check the spam folder for a week and mark anything that lands there as not spam, which trains Gmail’s filter for later. If spam is the bigger problem, how to stop junk mail covers the filters that still work on a Gmail address. Forwarding also changes the shape of the mail: it arrives as a new message rather than a copy of the original.

The Gmail app still takes other accounts, over IMAP

Google’s second named option is the Gmail app on Android, iPhone and iPad, which connects to other providers over IMAP. What you get there is a second set of inboxes rather than a merged one. You can add up to five email addresses to one Gmail account, and the app has an “All inboxes” view for reading them together. In the app, tap your profile picture, choose “Add another account”, then pick the provider from the list or choose “Other (IMAP)” and type the settings by hand: IMAP server, port 993, security type SSL/TLS.

What this is not: a unified inbox on the web. It works in the app on your phone and tablet, but Gmail in a desktop browser no longer aggregates other accounts. Google’s own help page for adding an account on a computer still documents the old POP setup, with a note at the top pointing to the change. One more limit: Google says you cannot add an Outlook account to Gmail on your computer, because Microsoft requires modern authentication for non-Microsoft mail apps. Outlook accounts go in through the mobile app.

A desktop mail client is the only real multi-account inbox

If you read mail in a browser and want one inbox for everything, the answer is a mail client that speaks IMAP to both providers. Google’s help page names Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird. Add both addresses to the same client, and they land in one list with folders, synced read state and working replies.

For Gmail itself, use the “Sign in with Google” button in the client if it has one. Google stopped supporting clients that ask for your Google username and password, and IMAP access is always on, so there is nothing to switch on in Gmail. The servers are imap.gmail.com on port 993 with SSL, and smtp.gmail.com on port 587 with TLS for sending. You can connect up to 15 email clients to one Gmail account before you hit “Too many simultaneous connections”.

Move the mail you already have

Gmail still imports mail and contacts from another account, once. In Gmail on a computer, go to Settings, then See all settings, then the Accounts and Import tab, then “Import mail and contacts”. You get messages and contacts, but no folders or labels. After the import, Gmail forwards messages sent to your old address for 30 days and shows your new address for 60 days. This is also the fallback when POP is unavailable: Google’s guidance for an account with no POP support is to import the old mail first, then auto-forward everything new.

If your mail already stopped arriving

A few errors show up when the POP connection dies or the provider changed something on its side. “Server denied POP3 access” usually means the provider wants an app password instead of your normal one, which happens when the account uses two-step verification. “POP is unavailable” means the provider does not support POP at all, and forwarding is the answer. “POP is disabled” means you need to switch POP on in the other account’s settings.

One thing to avoid: Google’s advice for a stuck POP setup still links to “turn on access to less secure apps”. Do not use it. That setting covers apps that ask only for your Google username and password, and Google says those are no longer supported, with the setting removed for Workspace accounts on May 1, 2025. Use “Sign in with Google” where the app offers it, or an app password, which Google says is a 16-digit passcode that only works with 2-Step Verification turned on. Our guide to a verification code text you didn’t request covers app passwords and OAuth in more detail.

What to do next

Check whether your other address is still listed under Settings, then See all settings, then Accounts and Import. If it is there and mail still arrives, you have until January 2027 and can plan the move calmly.
Turn on forwarding at your other provider and leave the POP connection alone for a week. Check the Gmail spam folder for anything that arrives in the wrong place.
Add the other account to the Gmail app on your phone, and to Thunderbird, Outlook or Apple Mail if you want a single desktop inbox.
Import the old mail once, with Import mail and contacts, before you switch anything off.
Delete the POP connection last, from Accounts and Import, once forwarding works.

Gmail stopped checking mail from your other accounts? Replacements