What You Need to Know About Gmail and Google Photos Content Deletion

Did you know that a whopping 1.8 billion people use Gmail actively? And for Google Photos, there are approximately 2 billion active users! However, starting from December, Google has issued a warning that inactive accounts will be deleted for security reasons. The question is, what exactly does Google consider an inactive account, and more importantly, how can you safeguard your emails, photos, and other content from being deleted?

Discover the shocking truth behind Google's content deletion policy and how it could affect your precious emails and photos. Learn how to safeguard your data and stay ahead of the game.

Google recently addressed the issue of content deletion for Gmail and Google Photos. Despite the vast number of people using these services, only a small percentage actually read Google's safety and security blogs. Even for those of us who do read them, important updates can sometimes be overlooked, like the one about inactive account policies in May. I personally missed it while taking some time off for health reasons, and I'm sure others did too, which is why I feel the need to share this reminder.

In the update, Ruth Kricheli, a vice president of product management at Google, warned that inactive personal Google accounts could face content deletion. This includes data stored in Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, and Google Photos. The content purge is scheduled to start from December 2023. According to Google's new policy, accounts that have not been used or signed into for at least two years across all products will be considered inactive and subject to deletion. It's essential to be aware of this change to safeguard your content from being removed.

The deletion process for Google accounts and content, scheduled to begin in December, will be done with caution and careful planning. Google understands the importance of providing sufficient notice to users. The first accounts to be focused on are those that were created but have remained unused since then. Going forward, Google will ensure users are well-informed about the intention to delete these accounts, as well as the associated Gmail and Google Photos content. Multiple notifications will be sent to both the account email address and the recovery email (if provided) in the months leading up to the deletion, ensuring users have ample opportunity to take action if needed.

Google is purging inactive accounts for security reasons, and this might come as a surprise to many users. The policy update highlights that accounts left unused for extended periods are at a higher risk of being compromised. These dormant accounts may have outdated or reused passwords, making them more susceptible to breaches. Additionally, inactive accounts are less likely to have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, making them easier targets for attackers.

To address these security concerns, Google recommends using a password manager application and enabling 2FA. A password manager helps generate strong and unique passwords for each account, reducing the need to remember multiple passwords. The master password for the password manager should be robust and secure, and users can consider using passphrases or hardware security keys for added protection.

Contrary to some skepticism about cloud-based password managers, reputable ones, like 1Password, ensure strong encryption and data protection. Even if an attacker gains access to the password manager's servers, the encrypted data remains secure, and decryption requires an additional secret key stored on the user's device.

As for 2FA, it's essential to enable it on all Google accounts as an extra layer of defense. While some password managers offer built-in 2FA features, using a third-party application like Google Authenticator or Authy adds an extra level of separation from potential threats. For even higher security, users can opt for hardware authentication keys, although their setup may be more challenging for most individuals.

In conclusion, following these security measures, such as using a reliable password manager and enabling 2FA, significantly enhances account security and reduces the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.

If you have just one Gmail or Google Photos account and have used it within the last two years, you don't need to take any action to protect it from deletion. You're all set!

However, if you have multiple accounts that you use as backups or archives and they have been inactive for two years or more, you can safeguard them by following these steps:

• Ensure that you log in to the account at least once every two years.
• Perform any of the following activities to mark the account as active:
  • Read or send an email using Gmail.
  • Do a Google search.
  • Use Google Drive.
  • Watch a video on YouTube.
  • Install an app from the Google Play Store.

Doing any of these actions will be sufficient to prevent your Google account from being deleted, ensuring that the content stored in Gmail and Google Photos remains protected.

It's quite common to face a memory challenge when it comes to multiple Google accounts, as they are easy to create. Many people, including myself, have several Gmail accounts linked to different Google accounts. While I'd like to believe that I remember all of them, there's a possibility that some may slip my mind, and I'm sure others might experience the same.

But don't worry, if you've forgotten about any of your accounts, there's a way to find them using the Google account recovery method. This process involves providing either the recovery email or telephone number associated with the account you're trying to locate. If you use an email or phone number that you've had for a long time, chances are it will yield results. Google will send a recovery verification code to that email or phone, allowing you to discover any accounts linked to it.

Once you've identified the account, there's still the issue of the password. If you're like most people who prioritize security, you probably don't use the same password for everything, making it difficult to remember passwords for accounts you've forgotten about. In this case, a password manager won't be of much help since you wouldn't have saved these accounts in the first place.

But fear not, there's a simple solution. Just go to the sign-in page and use the "forgotten password" option. Google will then send you another verification code and give you the opportunity to set a new password for the account. This way, you can regain access to the forgotten account without much hassle.