Google Will Begin Purging Gmail And Photos Accounts In 3 Days, How To Take Action

In less than 72 hours from now, Google will start deleting Google accounts that have been deemed inactive. If you want to save your content, there are some things you can do to ensure that your account and associated content is not caught in the snare of the accounts purge. However, the clock is ticking, so you best jump straight to it after reading this.

Back in May, we covered Google’s update to its inactive accounts policy, which noted that accounts that were inactive for two years would be eventually deleted. Per the policy, the account will be marked as active if the user does one of the below-listed items...

• Reading or sending an email
• Using Google Drive
• Watching a YouTube video
• Sharing a photo
• Downloading an app
• Using Google Search
• Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service

Of course, this policy enforcement has been on the horizon for a while now, and people should not be surprised by the changes. We should also note that, thankfully, there are some exceptions to the policy, such as if a Google account was used to make a purchase, contains a gift card balance, owns a published app or game, or manages an active minor account.


If you are willing to let your account go, however, you can grab your data that you want to save by getting Google Takeout, where everything can be downloaded in one place. Suppose you want to avoid dealing with this problem again, though. In that case, you can utilize the Inactive Account Manager to set up account data sharing with another user if the original account goes inactive for some time. This would act as a sort of digital will, allowing friends or family members to access accounts of deceased loved ones.

In any event, Google’s purge of inactive accounts is probably a good thing, as these accounts are potentially a security risk. Specifically, Gmail accounts could be compromised and enable phishing attacks from seemingly legitimate email addresses and people, which is quite problematic. Thus, good on Google for the effort, and hopefully, none of your accounts get caught in the fray so long as you follow the above guidance.