Starting from January 2026, Google has removed the Gmailify feature and the option for Gmail to continuously fetch email from other providers using POP3 (“Check mail from other accounts”).
This change affects all hosting providers equally and means you can no longer connect a Maxer‑hosted mailbox to Gmail using the old POP3 Mail Fetcher method.

This article explains what has changed, what still works, and the recommended alternatives:

  • Continue using your Maxer mailbox with a normal email app (IMAP/POP).

  • Use the Gmail mobile app with IMAP (read and send from your email account at Maxer, but not via Gmail web POP import).

  • Migrate fully to Google Workspace if you want “everything in Gmail”.

  • Understand email forwarding to Gmail and why it is not recommended as a primary solution.

1. What changed in Gmail?

Google has announced that, from January 2026, Gmail will no longer support:

  • Gmailify – applying Gmail’s spam filtering and inbox features to third‑party accounts.

  • Check mail from other accounts (POP) – Gmail fetching emails from other providers using POP3.

Key points:

  • Existing mail already imported into Gmail will remain in your Gmail account; only new automatic fetching has stopped.

  • POP and IMAP are still supported for accessing Gmail itself from external email clients (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail).

  • Gmail on the web can no longer act as a POP “hub” for other mailboxes (including Maxer‑hosted email accounts).

Because of this, the previous “Setup your regular email address in Gmail” guide (using POP in Gmail Settings → Accounts and Import → Check mail from other accounts) is no longer applicable.

2. Recommended alternative: use a regular email app (IMAP)

The most straightforward alternative is to connect directly to your Maxer‑hosted email account using a standard email client on your computer and mobile devices.

Examples of supported email apps:

We recommend IMAP instead of POP so that:

  • Your email stays on the server and stays in sync across all devices.

  • Moving or deleting messages in one place reflects on your other devices.

Please refer to this guide to locate your full email account settings: Locating Email Account Information in cPanel's Connect Devices Section

3. Using the Gmail mobile app with your Maxer mailbox (IMAP)

Although Gmail has removed POP fetching into your Gmail inbox, the Gmail mobile apps on Android and iOS can still connect directly to non‑Gmail accounts using IMAP.

Important limitations:

  • Your Maxer mailbox will appear as a separate account inside the Gmail app; it is not imported into your main Gmail inbox via POP.

  • Gmailify’s additional spam filtering and categorisation will not apply to this external mailbox.

Setup steps in the Gmail app:

You will be able to:

  • Read and send mail from your Maxer address inside the Gmail app.

  • Keep your folders and read/unread state in sync across devices via IMAP.

However, this does not restore the old POP behaviour of pulling all messages into your main Gmail inbox on the web.

4. Full migration to Google Workspace (recommended for businesses)

If your main requirement is that all email for your domain works inside Gmail alone (with Google’s spam filtering, search, labels, and reliability), the proper solution is to move your domain’s email fully to Google Workspace.

What this involves:

  • Signing up for a Google Workspace subscription for your domain.

  • Updating DNS (MX records) so that mail for your domain is delivered directly to Google’s servers instead of Maxer’s servers.

  • Optionally importing existing mail from your Maxer mailboxes into Google Workspace using Google’s migration tools (IMAP migration or one‑time imports).

Pros:

  • Mail arrives directly into Gmail; no POP fetching required.

  • Google handles spam filtering, search, and storage.

  • Ideal for organisations that already use Google services.

Cons:

  • Additional monthly cost (Google Workspace subscription).

  • Email hosting moves away from Maxer; we then only host your website and any remaining services.

What you (or your IT provider) need to do:

  • Purchase and set up Google Workspace.

  • Use Google’s documentation to perform any mailbox migration or import of historic mail.

  • Update your devices and email clients to use the Google Workspace mailboxes instead of the old Maxer ones.

Once you have an active Google Workspace subscription and all your email accounts are setup on their end, you can use our Remote MX Wizard in cPanel to setup the DNS technical records and have the email service setup for Google Workspace:

5. Email forwarding to Gmail (risks and why it is not recommended)

With POP3 fetching removed, some users may be tempted to set up a forwarder from their Maxer mailbox to Gmail to “replace” the old POP behaviour.
While forwarding can work in some cases, it has significant technical and deliverability drawbacks and is not recommended as a primary solution.

Issues with forwarding to Gmail:

  • Increased outbound volume from our servers: Every incoming message (including spam) is then resent to Gmail, increasing our outbound email traffic. This can cause rate‑limiting or temporary restrictions from Gmail if volumes or spam levels are high.

  • Spam forwarding: When you forward spam, Gmail may treat our servers as the spam source because they see our server as the last sender. Over time this can damage deliverability from our platform to Gmail for many clients, not just your account.

  • SPF, DKIM, and DMARC breakage: Many sending domains publish strict SPF and DMARC policies. Simple forwarding rewrites neither SPF nor DKIM; as a result, Gmail can see forwarded messages as failing authentication and treat them as suspicious or reject them outright.

  • Troubleshooting complexity: When Gmail quarantines or rejects forwarded mail, it is often difficult to distinguish between issues caused by the original sender, Gmail’s policies, or the forwarding behaviour.

If you still decide to use a forwarder:

  • We strongly advise that you keep a full mailbox on our server with IMAP access, rather than only forwarding.

  • Use the forward primarily for convenience, and treat the original mailbox (via IMAP) as the authoritative location for your email.

  • Be aware that if forwarding from your account causes deliverability or abuse issues, we may need to ask you to remove or limit the forward to protect the shared hosting platform and server IP reputation.

From a best‑practice perspective, we recommend:

  • Use IMAP directly (desktop/mobile apps or Gmail app with IMAP), or

  • Move fully to Google Workspace if you require Gmail‑centric email hosting.

6. Other possible workarounds (advanced / not supported by Maxer)

There are some more advanced workarounds mentioned in the wider email community, but they require your own infrastructure or technical management and are not part of our standard support.

Examples:

  • Running a small always‑on mail client (e.g. Thunderbird or Fetchmail on a VPS, NAS, or home server) that:

    • Retrieves your mail from Maxer via POP or IMAP, and

    • Uploads it to Gmail via IMAP.

  • Using third‑party email consolidation services that support IMAP/POP aggregation and then expose a single mailbox, which you access from your email client.

These approaches can approximate the old POP‑to‑Gmail behaviour but:

  • Add complexity and extra points of failure.

  • Sit entirely outside our infrastructure and support scope.

If you choose an advanced workaround, please ensure:

  • You understand the security implications of storing credentials on third‑party systems.

  • You maintain your own monitoring and backups for that intermediate system.

7. Choosing the most appropriate option

Here are some usual scenarios and the recommended option:

  • If you are happy using a normal email app:

    • Set up your Maxer mailbox using IMAP in Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, or your preferred email client (see Section 2).

  • If you want to keep using Gmail’s interface on mobile:

    • Add your Maxer mailbox as an IMAP account in the Gmail mobile app (see Section 3).

  • If your business depends on Gmail and Google’s ecosystem:

    • Plan a migration to Google Workspace and update your MX records accordingly (see Section 4).

  • If you have an existing forwarder to Gmail:

    • Consider replacing it with direct IMAP access, or keep forwarding only as a convenience copy while treating IMAP as the primary access method (see Section 5).

Updated by SP on 03/02/2026

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