Google Accounts That Have Been Inactive for 2 Years Will Be Deleted
Today Google sent a notification email, if our Google account is not actively used for up to 2 years it will be deleted by Google, here are the details of the message:
Every day Google works hard to keep you and your personal information safe and secure by preventing unauthorized access to your Google Account with our built-in security protections. Additionally, keeping you safe means implementing strong privacy practices across all of our products that minimize the amount of time your personal files and any related data are stored. We want to protect your personal information and prevent all unauthorized access to your account even if you no longer use our services.
Therefore, we are updating the inactivity period for Google Accounts to two years across all our products and services. This change starts rolling out today and will apply to every inactive Google Account, that is, accounts that have not been logged in or not used in a period of two years. Inactive accounts and any content they contain will be eligible for deletion starting December 1, 2025.
What these changes mean for you:
- These changes won’t affect you unless you haven’t actively used your Google Account for two years or haven’t used your account to sign in to any Google service for more than two years.
- While these changes take effect today, we will implement account deletion as early as December 2025.
- If your account is deemed inactive, we will send you several reminder emails and your recovery email (if any) before we take action or delete any account content. This reminder email will be sent at least 8 months before any action is taken on your account.
- Once a Google Account is deleted, the Gmail address for the deleted account can no longer be used when creating a new Google Account.
How to keep your account active?
The easiest way to keep your Google Account active is to log in to your account at least once every two years. If you’ve recently signed in to your Google Account within the last two years, your account is considered active and will not be deleted.
Other ways to keep your account active include:
- Read or send emails
- Using Google Drive
- Watch YouTube videos
- Share photos
- Downloading the application
- Using Google Search
- Use Sign in with Google to sign in to third-party apps or services
There are some exceptions to this policy. Examples include: Google accounts with YouTube channels, videos, or comments; an account that has a voucher card with a cash balance; or an account that has a published app, for example, an account that hosts an app in the Google Play Store. Other exceptions to this policy are available here.
Above is a snippet of an email sent by Google to Gmail service users.