Google is in the process of deleting many Gmail accounts. Here's how to avoid losing your account:
The internet giant began deleting accounts that hadn't been used for two years in December last year. Updated May Inactive Account Policy.
Google Accounts that haven't been used or logged in for at least two years may be deleted, including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos.
Google said it would begin taking action gradually, starting with accounts that were created but never used again.
Google will send users multiple notifications in the months leading up to deletion, both to their account email address and to a recovery email (if available).
“The easiest way to keep your Google Account active is to log in to it at least once every two years,” Ruth Kricheli, Google's vice president of product management, said in a safety and security blog post. “If you've recently logged in to your Google Account or any of our services, your account is considered active and won't be deleted.”
Activity may include many different types of actions taken when you sign in or while signed in to your Google Account, such as reading or sending email, using Google Drive, watching YouTube videos, downloading apps from the Google Play Store, using Google Search, or logging in to a third-party app or service using “Sign in with Google.”
If a user has set up existing subscriptions such as Google One cloud storage, news publications, or apps through their Google account, Google will also take this account activity into account and it will not be affected.
However, users will need to explicitly sign in to Google Photos every two years to prevent their photos and other content from being deleted.
“Also, at this time we have no plans to remove the accounts that posted the YouTube videos,” Criccelli said.
This policy only applies to personal Google accounts and does not affect accounts at schools, businesses, or other organizations.
Google said the change is intended to reduce security risks associated with account takeover, as accounts that have not been used for a long time are more likely to be compromised.
“Forgotten or abandoned accounts often use old or overused passwords that may have been compromised, lack two-factor authentication, and have fewer security checks by users,” Criccelli said.
“Our internal analysis found that abandoned accounts are at least 10 times less likely to have two-step authentication set up than active accounts, which means these accounts are often vulnerable, and if compromised, they could be used for anything from identity theft to vectors for unwanted or malicious content like spam.”
Gmail is used by over 1.8 billion people worldwide, making it the second most popular email provider after Apple.
The service first launched in 2004 with just 1 gigabyte of storage, a huge amount at the time.
“This update aligns our retention and account deletion policies with industry standards and also limits the amount of time Google keeps unused personal information,” Criccelli said.
“We're going to roll this out slowly and carefully, with plenty of advance notice.”
