Google is one of the most popular and widely used online platforms, offering a range of services such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, YouTube, and more. However, if you have a Google account that you don’t use regularly, you might be at risk of losing it and all the data associated with it.
Google’s New Inactive Account Policy
In November 2020, Google announced a new policy for inactive accounts that will take effect from June 1, 2021. According to this policy, Google may delete your account and its content if you are inactive across Google for at least two years. Google may also delete data in a specific product if you are inactive in that product for at least two years. This applies to products such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
Google defines activity as any action you take when you sign in or while you’re signed in to your Google account, such as reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, sharing a photo, downloading an app, using Google Search, or using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service.
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Google says that this policy is intended to clean up inactive accounts and free up storage space for everyone. However, it also means that you could lose access to your important emails, documents, photos, videos, and other data if you don’t sign in or use your account for a long time.
How to Prevent Your Google Account from Being Deleted
The good news is that you can easily prevent your Google account from being deleted due to inactivity by following these simple steps:
- Sign in to your Google account at least once every two years. You can do this on any device or browser where you can access your account.
- Periodically use Gmail, Google Drive, or Google Photos on the web or mobile while you are signed in to your account and connected to the internet. You don’t have to do anything specific in these services, just opening them is enough to show activity.
- Check your storage quota and make sure you are not over your limit for two years. You can see how much storage space you have and how much you are using by visiting this page. You can also upgrade your storage plan with Google One if you need more space.
- Review your account settings and preferences and make sure they are up to date. You can manage your account by visiting this page. You can also use the Privacy Checkup and Security Checkup tools to check and adjust your privacy and security settings.
- Add a recovery email and phone number to your account so that Google can contact you if there is any issue with your account or if it is at risk of being deleted. You can add or update your recovery information by visiting this page.
- Download and back up your data from your Google account if you want to have a copy of it on another device or service. You can use the Google Takeout tool to export and download your data from various Google products.
What Happens If Your Google Account Is Deleted
If your Google account is deleted due to inactivity, you will lose access to all the data and content associated with it, such as emails, contacts, calendars, documents, photos, videos, etc. You will also lose access to any subscriptions or purchases made with your account, such as YouTube Premium, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV, etc. You will not be able to sign in to any other services that use your Google account, such as Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, etc. You will not be able to recover your account or data once it is deleted.
Google says that it will notify you multiple times before deleting your account or data due to inactivity. It will send email notifications to your primary email address and your recovery email address if you have one. It will also show alerts on the web and mobile when you sign in or use any of the affected products.
However, it is better to be proactive and prevent your account from being deleted in the first place by following the steps mentioned above. This way, you can ensure that your data is safe and secure with Google and that you can access it whenever you want.
We hope this article was helpful and informative for you. If you have any questions or feedback about this topic or anything related to Google accounts and services, please feel free to leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!