Starting February 15, 2021, G Suite accounts will only allow access to apps using OAuth

Google announced that starting February 15, 2021, G Suite accounts will only allow access to applications using OAuth. From the emails developers received, Google ’s move is “to protect the security of Google accounts.” The email mentions that Google will turn off access to less secure applications (LSAs). These non-Google applications currently use only usernames and passwords to access Google accounts without additional verification steps, making them more vulnerable to attacks. Therefore, Google will turn off access to such applications in two phases. By June 15, 2020, users who attempt to connect to the LSA for the first time will no longer be able to connect; on February 15, 2021, all G Suite accounts will no longer be accessible using the LSA app.

The developer of the open-source email client FreeScout has posted a dissatisfaction. He states, “It is not possible to connect to Gmail via OAuth using the standard PHP IMAP extension because the imap_open function does not support the features suggested by the Google SASL XOAUTH2 protocol. This means that all PHP projects using standard PHP IMAP functionality will need to be redesigned to use the Zend Mail library using the Google IMAP OAuth algorithm. “