Verizon will disable the ability to automatically forward incoming emails from your Yahoo Mail to another email address. The feature will be deactivated on January 1, 2021. Note that this change is only for those who have the free version of the Yahoo Mail.

Verizon had announced the decision to disable the automatic forwarding feature earlier this month. The company is now informing its subscribers through email, Zdnet reports.

While it may seem that the move is aimed at encouraging users to get the paid version of Yahoo Mail, Verizon says it will help keep accounts secure.

“We regularly evaluate our products and services against current security standards and have decided to remove this feature to help ensure free Yahoo Mail accounts remain secure,” the company wrote on its FAQ page published.

Zdnet pointed out that hackers do abuse the automatic forwarding feature to keep a copy of the targeted users’ emails. Another view is that the feature also helps manage all incoming mails at a single place.

That said, Verizon’s Yahoo Mail Pro is an ad-free version of the email service. The paid version is said to load faster on desktop browsers, emails don’t get purged due to long periods of inactivity, and priority access to the customer support team. The Pro version is available for $3.49 ( 257 approximately) a month. Users also have the option to get an annual subscription plan that is priced at $34.99 ( 2,586 approximately).