As a result, millions of Google users will no longer be able to access their Gmail data from apps and devices that don’t meet modern security standards, meaning they’ll only be able to log in using their username and password.
This is considered part of a larger campaign that Google launched a year ago to improve security for all of its services. In recent times, the technology giant has been actively deploying new security technologies, including applying access keys to the Chrome browser on popular operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
It is known that the new security system will switch to using the OAuth authorization protocol to help protect user data more effectively and better. Thus, users will not be able to access Gmail through protocols such as CalDAV, CardDAV, IMAP, POP and Google Sync with just a username and password.
These changes, however, primarily affect Google Workspace users. Personal Gmail account holders don’t need to worry about access to their mailboxes, but IMAP access via email clients will only be possible via the OAuth protocol, which allows third-party applications to have limited access to data without needing a user’s login and password.
At the same time, Google recommends that users take some necessary steps to avoid problems accessing Gmail after the new rules take effect.
Additionally, Mail app users on iOS and macOS will need to use the Google account sign-in option to enable OAuth, which will require them to remove and re-add the account.
