Gmail is retiring POP fetching

The replacement for Gmail's POP3 fetcher

Google is retiring “Check mail from other accounts” and Gmailify. Clacks keeps collecting mail from your other POP3 and IMAP accounts and imports it into your Gmail inbox.

What changed

Gmail is retiring POP fetching and Gmailify

In October 2025 Google announced that Gmail would stop supporting two features: fetching mail from other accounts over POP, known in Gmail on the web as “Check mail from other accounts”, and Gmailify, which applied Gmail's spam protection and inbox organisation to accounts from other providers.

The Register reported on 5 January 2026 that the change was starting that month. Google's Gmail Help page now says the feature no longer supports new users after the first quarter of 2026, and that existing users can keep using it until January 2027. Mail already fetched stays in Gmail.

Google's suggested alternatives are to read the other account over IMAP in the Gmail app for Android, iPhone and iPad, or to set up automatic forwarding at the other provider.

Sources: Google Gmail Help, “Learn about upcoming changes to Gmailify & POP in Gmail”; The Register, 5 January 2026.
support.google.com theregister.com

Who is affected

Who needs a replacement

Anyone who relied on Gmail to collect mail from another mailbox.

Your own domain

Addresses at your own domain, hosted by a web host or mail provider, that Gmail collected over POP.

Other webmail accounts

Yahoo, Outlook.com and other accounts you linked with Gmailify or collected into Gmail.

One inbox on the web

Anyone who reads all their mail in Gmail on a computer: Google's suggested IMAP route is in the Gmail app for Android, iPhone and iPad.

Step by step

Move your fetcher to Clacks

The same setup Clacks walks you through after you sign up.

  1. 1

    Connect Gmail

    Authorise Clacks with Google (OAuth 2.0). Clacks never sees your Google password.

  2. 2

    Add the other account

    Enter the POP3 or IMAP server, port and login that Gmail used, test the connection, and choose whether to leave messages on the server.

  3. 3

    Create a route

    Link the account to your Gmail and choose whether mail goes to the inbox, arrives unread, and which labels it gets.

  4. 4

    Reply from the same address

    Optionally, add a Send Mail As alias so your replies go out from the original address.

From then on, Clacks checks the account on the schedule your plan sets and imports new mail into Gmail. You can also sync a route by hand at any time.

What you keep

Mail that behaves like Gmail mail

Gmail's own spam filtering

Messages are imported through the Gmail API, which runs Gmail's normal spam classification on them. Clacks never marks anything as not spam.

Original messages and dates

Each message is imported exactly as it was received, and Gmail files it under the date in its own Date header.

Your labels

Apply one or more Gmail labels per route, so you can see at a glance which account a message came from.

Encrypted credentials

Mail account passwords are encrypted at rest with XChaCha20-Poly1305.

No reading of your Gmail

Clacks uses its Gmail access to import messages, apply labels and manage Send Mail As aliases. It never lists or reads the mail already in your mailbox.

FAQ

Questions about the Gmail change

Is Gmail really ending “Check mail from other accounts”?

Yes. Google's Gmail Help page says POP fetching from other accounts and Gmailify are being retired: no new users after the first quarter of 2026, and existing users only until January 2027.

Why not use IMAP in the Gmail app instead?

That works in the Gmail app on Android, iPhone and iPad, where the other account appears alongside your Gmail account. Clacks instead imports the messages into your Gmail mailbox itself, so they are also in Gmail on the web, with your labels.

Why not set up forwarding at my other provider?

Forwarding works if your provider offers it. Clacks is for when it does not, or when you would rather not change settings there: it collects the mail over POP3 or IMAP, as Gmail's fetcher did.

Do I need to change anything at my email provider?

Usually not: Clacks signs in with the server details and password you gave Gmail. Some providers require an app password for POP3 or IMAP access; if yours does, use one.

Will Clacks import mail that Gmail has already fetched?

Clacks records every message it imports on a route and never imports the same one twice, but it cannot see what Gmail's own fetcher collected. If you told Gmail to leave copies on the server, those copies are imported the first time a POP3 route runs, so clear them out first if you do not want them twice.

How often does Clacks check for new mail?

On the schedule your plan sets (the pricing page lists each plan's polling interval), and whenever you press Sync Now on a route.

Is my email password safe?

Mail account passwords are encrypted at rest with XChaCha20-Poly1305. Gmail is connected through Google's OAuth, so Clacks never sees your Google password.

Keep your other mail arriving in Gmail

Create an account and set up your first route in a few steps.

Read on

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