A few days left for D-Day to save your Gmail account and photos, or Google will delete them: do it now or you will lose it
Google's Inactive Accounts Policy warns that as of December 1, 2024, Gmail accounts and Google Photos that have been inactive for more than two years can be deleted.
This procedure only affects personal accounts, while not corporate and educational center accounts.
For Google, an account is inactive if it has not recorded any activity in Gmail, Google Photo, Google Drive, or YouTube for two years.
- What does "activity" mean in an account?
Google considers an account active if the user performs activities such as reading or sending email, watching YouTube videos, sharing photos on Google Photos, using Google Search, or logging into a third-party app or service.
That is, it is enough to perform any of these actions at least once every two years to prevent the account from being classified as inactive.
Inactive Google accounts are particularly vulnerable to attacks, as many are not protected by modern security methods. Google found that an account that has been inactive for a long time is unlikely to have security measures such as two-step verification.
Ruth Crecelli, Google's vice president of product management, said in announcing the new update: "If the account is not used for a long period of time, it is likely to be compromised."
These abandoned accounts, without receiving regular security reviews, are attractive to cybercriminals looking to access personal information or exploit the account to send spam and other attacks.
If you have multiple Gmail accounts, make sure you sign in to them at least once every two years. In addition, it's helpful to review and update the security settings for each account.
For those who manage multiple accounts, the company makes it easy to switch between them on the same device. Simply select your avatar in the upper right corner of any Google service and add the accounts you want to manage.
With these recommendations, you can keep your accounts active and secure, thus avoiding the possible deletion of important data in Gmail and Google Photos.