Google warns again it will start deleting inactive accounts in December

Leo@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show to Technology@lemmy.world – 126 points –
bleepingcomputer.com
17

You know that account you set up 6 years ago and used only as a verification email for a site you almost never go to? Won't you be surprised next time you need to reset your password.

If you haven’t logged in for that long, you’ll also get greeted with the inability to log in unless you add a new phone number to the account…

I believe every account owner will be notified beforehand directly.

How will they be notified if they never log into the account?

I mean, at some point, you use the account or you don't. I think they are trying to clean up those throw away emails and ones that have been abandoned.

You will be notified on the backup email address you had the option of providing. If you didn't set one up you're probably not going to get a notification.

A light breeze is enough for Google to lock accounts, and they make it nearly impossible to re-access. And they have no reliable customer service you can call or email.

But the final straw for me was when they started this bullshit of saying "tell me your phone number so we can make sure it's you". They never had my number in the first place, so it was clear that this was pure bullshit of them trying to associate real world identities with their accounts.

After that, I said "fuck em", changed to other providers, and haven't look back since.

Go ahead and delete my accounts - your service is pure garbage anyway.

Other accounts like how? The only good alternative I have is one drive to replace Google drive. Nothing for all their other stuff

There's tons of email providers out there. I bought a domain and rented a small VM for some learning about servers and the company provides a direct email service with the domain. Now I have unlimited mail-accounts with my own domain name and Google can fuck right off.

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The important details:

The easiest way to keep a Google Account active is to log in at least once every two years. As long as you have accessed your Google Account within the past two years, it will be considered active and will not be subject to deletion.

Additional means to maintain your account's activity status include reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, downloading apps from the Play Store, using Google Search and watching YouTube while logged on, sharing photos, or using Sign in with Google with third-party services.

The rule also comes with certain exceptions, including Google Accounts with YouTube activity (channels, videos, or comments), holding a gift card with a monetary balance, that published apps on the Google Play store.

Gonna have to set some yearly reminders 🤔

Yes please, delete my account 🙏🏻

Just the ability to log in, don't worry. Your personalization data will probably never disappear entirely.

Yeah you’re probably right 😅

Will this enable the new users to pick a name of the deleted ones?

Probably not. If those are tied to accounts then people could use password resets to get access, and that might be something Google might want to avoid getting involved in.