With the world more dependent on Google than ever before, some people fail to realize that they’re taking its services for granted. That’s why if you have all your old photos and files backed up in a spare account, it would be best to set reminders to log in every now and then. Google has officially announced deleting accounts with 2 years of no logins.

This change to the company’s inactive account policies was borne of safety and security concerns. In the memo, Google Product Management VP Ruth Kricheli explains that accounts which haven’t been used for a long period of time are more likely to hijacking. That’s because these tend to rely on old, recycled passwords and don’t have two-factor authentication set up. As such, since users don’t habitually log onto these accounts, they’re unaware that their sensitive data has been compromised and possibly out on the dark web.

In addition to that, hackers often use these inactive accounts for identity theft and to scam other people under the guise of someone else. This could get the account owner in trouble and effectively lead to a catastrophe. To solve this issue, Google is setting its maximum inactivity period to 2 years. Accounts that haven’t seen any logins or activity within that period of time will be deleted, alongside all Emails, Photos, and all data on Google services.

Of course, the company understands how drastic of a move this is. That’s why the earliest account deletions will be at the end of this year (December 2023) and will begin with accounts that were created and never used again. Also, Google will be sending notifications to the account at risk to notify the user way ahead of time.

Well… your question may be, “How do I keep my account active?” It’s simple. Log in, then either watch a YouTube video, edit a doc, upload a photo, download an app, search on Google, or do something that works with Google. That should keep your account safe and up-to-date.

As of now, Google claims there is no plan to delete accounts with uploaded YouTube videos or those with existing subscriptions to services such as Google One.