Gmail Says Goodbye to Gmailify and POP3: What Users Need to Know

Google is retiring Gmailify and POP3 mail fetching by January 2026, ending the ability to manage third-party email accounts from the Gmail web interface. Citing security concerns—particularly POP3’s plaintext password risks—the change removes Gmail’s spam filtering, categorization, and enhanced search for linked accounts, and Google advises users to switch to provider-side auto-forwarding or use the Gmail mobile app with IMAP for third-party accounts.