Google has updated its inactive account deletion policy, in which the company will delete personal accounts that have not been signed in for two years or more and all related information and files stored on Google servers.
Google will begin deleting inactive accounts by the end of the year, with created but unused accounts being deleted first. The deletion process is gradual and only applies to free accounts. Accounts run by companies or schools will not be deleted.
But what data is lost when Google deletes your account?
1- Check the photos stored in Google Photos:
Google Photos is a useful service for many users because it automatically saves your photos and videos, lets you easily organize your photos, includes a variety of photo editing tools, and much more.
However, if Google Photos is the only place you store your photos, especially those from old phones and old Google accounts you no longer use, you risk losing your photos if Google deletes your account.
To avoid this, you must either log into your old Google account and download all the content, or send it to another active account that even if Google deletes it, you still have a copy in your active account. A copy of the image in or on your computer.
2- Google Drive files disappear:
It may also happen that files disappear from the Google Drive service of an inactive Google account.
Therefore, if you have files stored in Google Drive that belong to an inactive Google Account, please download those files to your device and upload them to your active account to ensure that you can access them in the future.
3- You may not be able to access other accounts:
If you signed in to various online services with your old Google Account and Google deletes your account, you may lose access to your account on those services. Because if you need to recover your account on a particular service, you will receive the relevant email because you cannot access the service.
How to prevent deletion of your Google account
To ensure that Google does not delete your account, you must first sign in to your old Google Account, use that account to read and send email, upload or download files to Google Drive, or watch YouTube videos from that account. You can also upload videos to YouTube.
To keep old Google Account data that has not been used for more than two years, you can use the (Google Takeout) service that collects Google Account data in one place and allows you to export a copy of the content from the account to keep as an archive backup or use in an external service. last. To learn how to use Google Takeout, read the article: "What is Google Takeout and how to use it?"