4 Things You Could Lose if Google Deletes Your Account
Google updated its inactive account policy in May 2023 and will start deleting accounts without any activity in the past two years. While it makes sense from Google’s perspective, it could bring troubling news to the rest of the internet.
That’s because many people use their Google Accounts for accessing multiple accounts—not just Google. So, what data could you lose if Google deletes an inactive account?
1. You Could Lose Your Google Photos
Google Photos is a handy tool for many users, especially as it automatically backs up your photos and videos. Google evenupdated Google Photos to make it easier to organize pictures.
However, if that’s the only place where you store your photos, especially those from an old phone with an old Google account you no longer use, you risk losing all of them when Google deletes your account.
So, to avoid that, you should log into your old Google account and download all its contents. That way, even if Google deletes it, you still have a copy of your memories stored in your current account or computer.
2. Publicly Available Google Drive Files Could Disappear Forever
Another thing that could happen is that a file hosted on the Google Drive of an unused Google account would be gone forever. After all, you canshare Google Drive files with non-Gmail accounts, and many people are taking advantage of this.
However, if they upload the file they’re sharing through an account they no longer use, there’s a risk that Google will delete that account. And when Google does so, every associated Google service—Google Photos, Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, and more—is gone.
So, if you frequently download a file from some Google Drive account and want to ensure that it will stay on even if Google deactivates that particular account, you should download it and upload it to your own Google account. From there, you’re able to share it with others to ensure access to it in the future.
3. You Could Lose Access to Other Accounts
This is another troubling side effect of a Google account deletion, especially in the age of Single Sign-On (what is Single Sign-On?) and Google accounts as usernames. Imagine this—you’re subscribed to Spotify using your old account. However, since you don’t lose access to your Spotify account, you have no idea that that is the case.
If Google deletes your old account, there’s a chance you could lose access to your Spotify account, too, for example. That’s because if you need to recover your account, you’ll realize you no longer have access to your original email.
This issue will affect more than just Spotify—it can affect just about any service that uses your old email address as a username.
4. You Could No Longer Send Emails to a Deleted Account
Most people use their active Google account to send and receive emails. However, a select fewauto-forward emails to multiple addresses in Gmail. Some do this because they changed their name but didn’t want to inform everyone, while others do this to maintain anonymity.
Other times, a few people email their lost loved ones to stay connected to their memory. But whatever the reason, if Google deletes that address because it’s unused, it’s possible to no longer send emails to it.
If you forward emails from that old address to your new Google account, you risk losing important emails. The sender would receive a 550 Error: User Unknown reply instead of their message getting to your active inbox. And if you use that old Google account to remember someone, losing it can be disheartening, especially if that’s your last remaining connection to them.
Stop Your Google Account From Being Deleted
Thankfully, you can ensure that Google doesn’t delete your account. The most basic thing is you should log into your old Google account, read and send emails using that account, upload or download a file from its Google Drive, or watch a YouTube video on that account.
you’re able to also upload a YouTube video, and Google won’t delete your account. But if you want to ensure that your account remains active even if you’re not around, you should assign an inactive account manager to take care of your Google account.
Here’s how to set an Inactive Account Manager for your Google account, to stop your account from being deleted should the worst happen.
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