Google has said that it will delete accounts that haven’t been used in two years.
This change went into effect yesterday, August 8, 2023, for any Google Account that hasn’t been logged into or used in the last two years.
Google told ParallelFacts in a news release that these changes won’t affect its users unless they haven’t used their Google Account in over two years or haven’t used it to sign in to any Google service in over two years.
Even though the changes go into effect on Tuesday, the search engine company said that it won’t delete accounts until December 2023 at the earliest.
“If your account is considered inactive, we will send you and your recovery emails (if you gave us any) a few reminder emails before we do anything else or delete any of your account information. At least eight months will pass before your account is changed because of these emails.
“After a Google Account is deleted, the Gmail address for the deleted account cannot be used again when creating a new Google Account,” it said.
Google told its users that they should sign in to their accounts at least once every two years to keep them current. “If you have signed in to your Google Account in the last two years, your account is considered active and will not be deleted,” it said.
Google said that other ways to keep an account active are to read or send an email, use Google Drive, watch a YouTube video, share a picture, download an app, use Google Search, and sign in to a third-party app or service using Sign in with Google.
There are some exceptions to this rule, the search engine said, giving as examples a Google Account with YouTube channels, videos, or comments, an account with a gift card that still has money on it, or an account with a published application, like one that hosts an app on the Google Play store. You can find other exceptions to this rule here.”