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Google Plans to Delete Accounts That Haven't Been Used in Over Two Years

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Apr 12, 2001
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Google today announced that it is updating its inactive account policy, with Google Accounts that have not been used in at least two years to be deleted. Google says that accounts that have not been used for long periods of time are more likely to be compromised because of the use of older, less secure passwords and a lack of two-factor authentication.

Google-Logo-Feature-Slack.jpg

Going forward, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least two years, Google may delete the account and its contents. This includes content from Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos.

The policy is applicable to personal Google Accounts rather than those created for businesses and schools. Users with an inactive account will see those accounts being deleted starting in December 2023, but Google plans to provide plenty of notice before it starts to cull accounts.

Accounts that were created and never used again will be the first to be nixed, with Google sending multiple notifications to both the account email address and the recovery email, if one has been provided.

To keep a Google Account active, Google recommends signing in at least once every two years, and anyone who has signed into an account or a Google service recently has an account that is considered active and will not be deleted.

Activity includes reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, downloading a Google Play app, using Google Search, having an active subscription through a Google Account, or using Sign in with Google.

Back in 2020, Google said that it would wipe content from unused accounts but would keep the accounts intact. That is now changing with the plan to delete inactive accounts.

Article Link: Google Plans to Delete Accounts That Haven't Been Used in Over Two Years
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/16/google-deleting-inactive-accounts/
  • Haha
Reactions: u+ive
Penny pinching strategy? It's Google, I doubt some of these accounts with only a few megabytes worth of data are really hurting their margins. This is irritating because I have multiple gmail accounts that I've used to buy different services and now I have to go through and log into each one to make sure Google don't nuke them.
 
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Reactions: makr, 5105973, zapmymac and 11 others
Ditched them after they wanted back pay for my Gmail account and then suspended my account, on-and-off for two months. I even tried to pay them but they wouldn't approve my payment process until I had already transfered my email address to an iCloud account. Don't miss Google in the least.
 
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dontwalkhand said:
I think this is fair. If you haven't touched a Gmail account in 2 years, why should they have to hold onto your data? Back it up to your own drives and keep it in multiple locations if you want it for archival purposes.
Click to expand...

What is considered "touched" though? There are probably plenty of examples where you are still using the data but not logging in to the account. What if all you have is a calendar feed for an account? Or an archive of photos?
 
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zakarhino said:
Penny pinching strategy? It's Google, I doubt some of these accounts with only a few megabytes worth of data are really hurting their margins. This is irritating because I have multiple gmail accounts that I've used to buy different services and now I have to go through and log into each one to make sure Google don't nuke them.
Click to expand...

You can use "+tagging" to create different email addresses without having to juggle multiple separate accounts.


Each service sees a different email address for you, but you receive all emails in a single account, and you can use filters/tagging to automatically move messages to folders specific to each service, almost as if you have separate Inboxes.

  • Inbox-ACME
  • Inbox-XYZ
  • ... etc.
I applaud Google for doing this purging. Services like Twitter have let usernames be stale for 10 years, and it's a disgrace when those usernames could be used by actual people or companies, not wasting space for nothing.
 
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Reactions: makr, TheMacDaddy1, decypher44 and 8 others
Graphikos said:
What is considered "touched" though? There are probably plenty of examples where you are still using the data but not logging in to the account. What if all you have is a calendar feed for an account? Or an archive of photos?
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I'd assume if you have anything of value in a free account, you would just jump through the incredibly small hoop of logging in once through the web interface. I have some crusty old Yahoo! address I started for spam aeons ago, and every once in a while they ping my "backup" (real) email telling me I have to log in or be purged. I log in just to keep my account, and it costs me about 30 seconds I should not be surprised at the things people manage to whinge about, but somehow I am.
 
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Reactions: palev, decypher44, DreadedFun and 1 other person
Graphikos said:
What is considered "touched" though? There are probably plenty of examples where you are still using the data but not logging in to the account. What if all you have is a calendar feed for an account? Or an archive of photos?
Click to expand...
If I understand it, since I get my Gmail via the Apple Mail app I should be OK.
 
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SSDGUY said:
Ditched them after they wanted back pay for my Gmail account and then suspended my account, on-and-off for two months. I even tried to pay them but they wouldn't approve my payment process until I had already transfered my email address to an iCloud account. Don't miss Google in the least.
Click to expand...
I used to handle some domain/email/web admin for friend years ago. I keep getting emails from Google saying "Last chance to setup billing..." on a workspace account that hasn't been used in years, I don't even think the domain is active anymore. I've been getting these emails for the past year and they won't get the message.
 
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Reactions: Graphikos
coolfactor said:
You can use "tagging" to create different email addresses without having to juggle multiple separate accounts.


Each service sees a different email address for you, but you receive all emails in a single account, and you can use filters/tagging to automatically move messages to folders specific to each service, almost as if you have separate Inboxes.

  • Inbox-ACME
  • Inbox-XYZ
  • ... etc.
I applaud Google for doing this purging. Services like Twitter have let usernames be stale for 10 years, and it's a disgrace when those usernames could be used by actual people or companies, not wasting space for nothing.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've known about that for a while but sadly didn't know at the time of creating those accounts as I was a lot younger and naive. These days I use your alias approach.

I think I'll try finding a way of migrating the 3rd party services associated with those burner gmail accounts to aliases of my main email, that way I never have to touch Gmail again or those accounts again.
 
dontwalkhand said:
I think this is fair. If you haven't touched a Gmail account in 2 years, why should they have to hold onto your data? Back it up to your own drives and keep it in multiple locations if you want it for archival purposes.
Click to expand...
It took them over a month to send me the link to download all my data, but first they wanted me to pay them for my Gmail account, then they wouldn't approve my payment method (debit card that I used for every other tech subscription). By that time I had deleted my account and all things Google.
 
Happy I read this. Just logged into those 2 Google accounts I never check. Handy to have when I need an email address but don’t want to use my primary one to avoid spam.
 
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Great, my deceased brothers youtube account will be deleted even though he still gets views from his 100+ videos. Some are over 12k views.
We can't log in because his Nokia phone number was discontinued and we don't know his email address or password.
Guess I'll have to download all his videos for family archive.
If I republish them after they take down his account will they flag me for duplicates?o_O

Just went back to view his channel and some videos are now over 50k views with ads. Ummm where is his ad revenue going?o_O
 
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Reactions: decafjava, AmazeSE, zapmymac and 5 others
Only using gmail via Apple mail app. Getting emails now from Google saying I should download their gmail app. No thank you. Wondering if they will nix all mail apps except theirs soon?:rolleyes:
 
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zakarhino said:
Penny pinching strategy? It's Google, I doubt some of these accounts with only a few megabytes worth of data are really hurting their margins. This is irritating because I have multiple gmail accounts that I've used to buy different services and now I have to go through and log into each one to make sure Google don't nuke them.
Click to expand...
lol...your life must be really tough....
 
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