If you haven’t signed into your Google account in awhile, you may want to do so before it potentially disappears this week.
Starting Friday, Google will begin deleting inactive accounts — defined as accounts that haven’t been used in two or more years — under its updated inactive Google account policy.
The updated policy was announced in May in a press release from Google stating that a phased approach to deleting accounts will begin on Dec. 1.
Why is Google deleting inactive accounts?
Google will begin deleting accounts for security reasons, the tech company said in May.
“If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised,” a statement from Google reads.
Because accounts that are older or not in use often have old or re-used passwords, are less likely to have 2-factor authentication and receive fewer security checks when signing in, they are more vulnerable to hackers, spam and even identity theft.
“To reduce this risk, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google accounts to two years across our products,” Google stated.
How to stop Google from deleting your account
Google accounts that have not been used in two years or more are considered “inactive” and will be deleted.
To prevent this from happening to your account, simply sign in to your Google account.
Other types of activity you can do for your account to be considered active not be deleted include:
- Reading or sending an email.
- Using Google Drive.
- Watching a YouTube video.
- Downloading an app on the Google Play Store.
- Using Google Search.
- Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service.
Starting Dec. 1, Google will start a “phased approach,” of deleting inactive accounts, “starting with accounts that were created and never used again,” Ruth Kricheli, Google’s vice president of product management said.
Before the account is deleted, you’ll receive plenty of warnings from Google, including email notifications to your Google account and to your recovery email.