Tomorrow is a big day. Not only is Andrew Tate turning 37 but, more importantly, Google will begin its cleanout of two-year-old inactive accounts.
Chances are high that you have more than one Google account to your name, some of which have probably been collecting digital cobwebs for the last two years. If you’re interested in holding on to them, you’ll want to find their login details before Google begins to enforce its newly updated inactive account policy.
Google’s on your case
Those new rules were first announced in May, with the search giant telling users to mark down the first of December as D-Day. Since then, it has reportedly begun reminding those eligible accounts of their imminent demise via email which, in this case, doesn’t seem to be the most effective method of communication. Unless the account in question has a recovery email address. If it doesn’t… that’s what we’re here for, we guess.
It’s also worth noting that the entire account sweep isn’t all taking place tomorrow, 1 December. The search giant is taking a staggered approach, and is “starting with accounts that were created and never used again.” Even with a reprieve in place, there’s no telling when your account will be on the chopping block. Best to get it over and done with while you still can.
There are plenty of ways to alert Google that you want an account to stick around a bit longer. Signing in should do the trick, but Google mentioned practices like:
- Reading or sending an email,
- Using Google Drive (but maybe not right now),
- 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.
This isn’t a once-off, either. The company’s updated inactive account policy means you’ll need to keep those accounts you’ve rescued active or risk having them purged in another two or so years. If you don’t already have one, we’d recommend setting up a recovery email address or phone number that’ll warn you when the next purging comes around. However, if you’re going through that hassle, it might be worth making peace with the account and saying goodbye for good.
We should also note that those accounts tied to a YouTube channel with videos posted to it, or any that have active subscriptions running through them won’t be part of the mass deletion taking place in the new month. If you’re determined to keep an old account alive and well but can’t be bothered to save it every two years, try uploading something, anything, to the account’s associated YouTube channel. Nobody said it needs to be anything more than 10 seconds of a black screen or that it has to be public.