Heads up to pretty much everyone—Google will be coming after user accounts that haven’t been used in the last two years.
Inactive accounts will be deleted starting December 1, 2023 as part of Google’s new policy to strengthen its security and protection. According to Google, inactive accounts are ten times less likely to have a two-step verification set up that makes it vulnerable to online häçks.
“If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised,” Google wrote in a blog post. “To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years across our products.”
Implementation might be months away, but it’s worth checking up on your own accounts now before any important data gets lost. After all, a deleted Google account will impact all third-party platforms linked to that account.
Users who could be at risk for account deletion will be sent multiple notifications over the months leading up to December 1 to the account email and the recovery email (if provided).
YøùTùbé users whose accounts are created with Google don’t need to worry as Google has no plans to delete YøùTùbé videos at this time.
You can also choose to take matters into your own hands with Google’s You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. feature, which allows users to decide what happens to their data when they become inactive for 18 months before deletion takes place.
Specifically, Inactive Account Manager can enable users to:
Inactive accounts will be deleted starting December 1, 2023 as part of Google’s new policy to strengthen its security and protection. According to Google, inactive accounts are ten times less likely to have a two-step verification set up that makes it vulnerable to online häçks.
“If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised,” Google wrote in a blog post. “To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years across our products.”
Implementation might be months away, but it’s worth checking up on your own accounts now before any important data gets lost. After all, a deleted Google account will impact all third-party platforms linked to that account.
What to expect from Google’s new inactive account policy
Here is the list of Google products that will be deleted if they remain inactive for more than two years:- Gmail
- Google Docs
- Google Drive
- Google Meet
- Google Calendar
- Google Photos
Users who could be at risk for account deletion will be sent multiple notifications over the months leading up to December 1 to the account email and the recovery email (if provided).
YøùTùbé users whose accounts are created with Google don’t need to worry as Google has no plans to delete YøùTùbé videos at this time.
How to know if your Google account is active
Google will consider the following actions as "activity" if you are signed in to your account while doing the following:- Reading or sending an email
- Using Google Drive
- Watching a YøùTùbé video
- Downloading an app on the Google Play Store
- Using Google Search
- Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service
How to manage Google account data
Ready to move on and leave old accounts in the past? You don't have to sacrifice personal data to do that. You can actually download and export your data from Google accounts to other platforms through Google’s You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. feature, which is fairly straightforward process with a few clicks of a button. These data copies can be backed up or used with a service outside of Google.You can also choose to take matters into your own hands with Google’s You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. feature, which allows users to decide what happens to their data when they become inactive for 18 months before deletion takes place.
Specifically, Inactive Account Manager can enable users to:
- Send specific files to trusted contacts of their choosing
- Apply a Gmail autoresponder
- Delete the account entirely
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