Update, Sept. 11, 2024: This story, originally published Sept. 09, now includes a guide to managing and switching between multiple Gmail accounts on a single device and additional ways to stop your account from being deleted.
Google dominates the free email market with an estimated 1.8 billion Gmail users. It should come as no surprise, then, that warnings about Gmail accounts being deleted can cause concern. So, let’s set the record straight and confirm what’s actually happening. Yes, Google is deleting Gmail accounts. No, not everyone will be at risk because only inactive accounts are being targeted. For peace of mind, there are steps you can take to ensure your Gmail, along with Photos and Docs content, remain unaffected. Here’s what you need to know and do.
Google’s Inactive Account Policy Means Gmail, Photos And Docs Content Could Be Deleted
Towards the end of January this year, I received an email from Google informing me that a Google account I had not used for eight months would be deleted on September 20, along with any Gmail, Photos and Docs content. Despite the deadline drawing very near, I am not panicking about this and, to be honest, am more than happy for Google to do this for reasons I will explain momentarily.
I wasn’t altogether surprised as I had already read about the changes being made to Google’s inactive account policy much earlier the previous year. In a safety and security blog posting, Ruth Kricheli, a vice president of product management at Google, provided an update to explain precisely what would be happening and when.
The changes mean that an inactive Google account is now defined as one that has not been used within a two-year period if the user is inactive across Google for at least that period. “Google reserves the right to delete an inactive Google Account,” the policy makes clear, “we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos.”
The Security Reasoning Behind The Gmail Account Deletions
Google has invested a lot of time and money into making Gmail as safe and secure as possible for its users, whether in terms of anti-spam measures, phishing scam protection or account hijacking defense. “Even with these protections,” Kricheli said, “if an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised.”
One of the drivers of such compromise of older and unused accounts is weak login credentials and a lack of two-factor authentication. Passwords are often shared between accounts, something I have a headache from repeatedly warning against, which can lead to a breach from one service impacting the security of another. “Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step-verification set up,” Kricheli warned. The end result is that inactive accounts are much more likely to be vulnerable than active ones.
All that said, I can’t help but feel the cost of data storage might have been factored into the revised inactive account policy, if only a teensy-weeny bit.
Three Steps To Take Now To Prevent Your Gmail Account Being Deleted
If you only have one Google account, then your Gmail is perfectly safe from deletion, assuming you have used it within the last two years. The problem is purely with those users who have multiple accounts or maybe ones set up purely to store photos or data that have not been accessed in a long while or forgotten about altogether. Although a forgotten account might seem pointless to save, it could contain content that you may wish to access further down the road. That said, here’s what Google considers activity.
- Read or send an email.
- Share a photo or watch a YouTube video while signed into the relevant Google account.
- Use Google Drive or Search.
And that’s it. Doing any of these things at least once every year or so should ensure your account is safe from deletion. Those actions can be taken on any device, as this is an account-specific policy. If it has been a while since you accessed an account, I would heartily recommend that you take a Google Account Security Check-Up to ensure that you have the necessary security measures in place to protect it.
Google Cites Exceptions To The Inactive Account Rule
Although Google has made it very clear indeed that any Google account not used within a 24-month period is considered inactive, and so all its content and data can be deleted, there are exceptions to this rule. These are in addition to the steps noted above.
You will be notified in advance of any inactive account deletion, giving you plenty of time to take the relevant action to protect it and its contents from the axe. These will take the form of email notifications to both the account in question and your recovery email. This is another good reason to set up the recovery options for all your Google accounts at the soonest opportunity. When it comes to those exceptions, however, Google said that an account will considered active even if it has not been used for the maximum period as long as it meets one or more of the following requirements:
- Your Google account has been used to make a purchase, specifically of a Google product, application or service.
- Your Google account has been used to purchase a subscription, but only one that is ongoing or current.
- Your Google account contains an active gift card that has a positive monetary balance.
- Your Google account has been used to purchase or subscribe to a published application, including games, that is live and ongoing. Active financial transactions associated with such apps and games are included. Google says that this could be via a Google account that owns such an app or game through the Google Play store.
- Your Google account has an active minor account that is managed with the Family Link service.
- Your Google account has been used to purchase a book, movie or other digital item.
It should also be made clear that the inactive account policy only applies to personal accounts and as such will not impact those accounts for organizations such as schools or businesses. “This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion,” Google said, “ and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information.”
What If I’ve Forgotten My Gmail Account Password?
Unfortunately, there is no way of checking your activity status other than by signing into your Google account. This seems fairly logical, but what if you have forgotten your login credentials? Before we get started with the nitty gritty of Google account recovery, I feel honor-bound to restate my use a password advice that I’ve repeated many times over the years: use a password manager. This makes it impossible to forget login credentials as they are stored, encrypted and secure, by the password manager application either locally or in the cloud. The only password you need to remember is the master password that unlocks access to your password vault and, for most use cases, it’s pretty safe to write this down and hide it somewhere in your house. And before the usual suspects start complaining about weak security, the chance of a robber entering your house to steal a password is finitely remote, as is the chance of a common burglar finding your password and knowing what application it works with.
OK, so onto Google account recovery and, no surprises here, Google has an account recovery process to cover this situation. The process begins with you entering either a telephone number or recovery email associated with the account, and while this might sound like a hopeless task if you can’t remember the account details from at least two years ago, it’s actually not so bad. I have found that many users have reported success with long-established telephone numbers and email addresses working nine times out of ten. Assuming, of course, you have activated those recovery options in the first place as mentioned earlier. Google will then send a recovery verification code to the email or phone, and provide details of any accounts associated with them.
So what about your password, I imagine you yelling at your screen. Fear not; once you’ve found the details of the long-forgotten account you can then go and try to sign in but take the forgotten password route when offered. This will then kickstart another round of verification codes and then the chance to change to a new password. Of course, users who have activated the Advanced Protection Program for their account. This requires more hurdles to be jumped in order to recover it, and consequently takes more time, but it’s hardly likely this type of account would be an unused and forgotten one to be fair.
How To Manage Multiple Gmail Accounts On A Single Device
A number of readers have been in touch with me asking how they can best manage multiple Gmail accounts on one device. Although it’s easy to get all your email for different accounts to land in the one Gmail inbox, you just have to add a filtering rule so that everything received at one address is forwarded to another, physically switching from one Gmail account to another, with separate inboxes and settings, is altogether a different process. Not, I should add, that it’s an especially tough one, but it does take a few more steps to get set up correctly.
It doesn’t matter what device you use to access your Gmail inbox; the process for managing multiple Google accounts is the same, with slight differences in user interface appearance. Essentially, there are four steps you will need to follow.
- Click on your avatar in the top right of any Google service you are signed into.
- Select the add account option.
- Select an existing account you wish to add and sign-in. Complete any two-factor authentication requirement and add a passkey for quicker access if you want to.
- Go back to your avatar and you will have more than one account to select from and can now switch on demand.
Just rinse and repeat the steps above for every account you want to be able to use on your device. It takes a little while if you have a lot of these personal accounts to go through, but it’s worth a little effort now for the ease of use in the future. With switching made so easy, it’s unlikely you will ever get caught up in the inactive account policy shenanigans.
It’s worth noting that all of your added accounts are now signed into and so active, this is what makes switching between them so straightforward. It also means that anyone with access to your device could also access all of them. So, ensure that your device is properly secured at all times. You can sign all of your accounts out simultaneously with a single click for additional security, meaning anyone, including you, would need your credentials including 2FA or passkey to access any of them. I’d recommend this approach, but that’s mainly because I’m quite paranoid about all things security related. Seriously though, while it does take additional time, if you use passkeys access is just a fingerprint or facial scan away. The most user friendly option, of course, is only to keep your primary account signed-in until you want to access one of the others.
