For years, Google has maintained a strict rule: Once you create a @gmail.com address, you can't change it. If you outgrew the address you picked in high school, your only choice was to open a new account and manually move your data over—a tedious and often disruptive process.
Now, Google is slowly allowing users to change their existing Google Account email to a new @gmail.com address without creating a new account. When you make the switch, your old email becomes an alias. Emails sent to your old address still reach you, and you can use it to log in, but your primary identity is your new username.
Google's current English-language support documentation says that "if your account's email address ends in @gmail.com, you usually can't change it." However, changes spotted on the Hindi support page by Telegram's Google Pixel Hub group note that users may "change your Google Account email address that ends in gmail.com to a new email address that ends in gmail.com ." This ability is "gradually rolling out to all users."
The Hindi version of the page—the only version that appears to have been updated so far—notes that, to prevent misuse, users can change their email address only once every 12 months. There's also a lifetime limit of three changes per account. Once you switch, your previous email address is reserved; no one else can claim it.
