Have you logged into your Google account in a long time? Google may remove your account as part of an ongoing cleanup to protect the data of its users.
Google announced plans to deactivate dormant accounts in a blog post in May, although data will not be deleted until December 2023.
The internet giant from California is taking a gradual approach, beginning with Google accounts that were created and never used again.
However, when Google ramps up its procedure in the coming days and weeks, it will erase images, videos, emails, and other data from a large number of older accounts.
Personal information from Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Meet, Google Calendar, and Google Photos is included.
Accounts that haven’t been accessed within the last two years will be earmarked for deletion.
So, as long as you’ve signed into all of your Google and Gmail accounts since the beginning of last year, you won’t have to worry about data loss in the approaching purge.
How to stop your Google Account from being deleted
Google has provided a list of measures that will prevent your account from being flagged for deletion.
If you take any of the following typical acts, your account will not be deleted for the next two years.
However, it’s important to note that this is a permanent change to Google’s dormant account policy, not a one-time occurrence.
In other words, you’ll need to use your account on a regular basis or risk having it deleted again in a few years.
The suggested actions from Google to ensure your account remains active:
- Login to your account
- Use Google Search while logged-in
- Read or send an email from your Gmail inbox
- Upload a file to Google Drive
- Download an existing file from Google Drive
- Watching a video on YouTube while logged-in
- Share a photo from Google Photos
- Download an app from the Google Play Store
- Use “Sign-In With Google” to log in to a website or app
Ongoing subscriptions, such as monthly payments for cloud storage through Google One, will be considered activity by Google and will ensure your account is spared the cut.