Today we have all become internet users. As a result, having a Google account has become essential for internet users, as Google provides all the basic internet services to users. Once you create a Gmail account, a Google account is automatically created. Therefore, most of your online information is linked to this Google account, and you do not know the fate of this information and sensitive data in the end! Fortunately, Google allows users to use an “inactive account manager” to help you perform tasks if the account is inactive for a certain period of time. Once selected, you can make certain people keep what you want them to keep and lose forever what you prefer to keep secret!
While nobody really wants to plan for a digital will on their online accounts after their death or inability to make decisions themselves, doing so can help those left behind, or may protect your data (photos, documents, publicly available content like YouTube videos…) when you are not active on your account. Therefore, an inactive account manager can help manage things like businesses, investments, and other actions that require documents associated with your Google account. Adding an alternate account manager can help you manage an account you do not use often. This feature has been around for years, but unfortunately, there are a large number of people who are unaware of its existence. Setting up an inactive account manager can help reduce the risks of losing important data due to account inactivity. So let’s delve deeper into the matter by following the steps to activate it.
What is the benefit of an inactive account manager?
According to Google’s statements, everyone needs to set up an inactive account manager because it helps users in case of sudden death or accidents. Let’s assume someone has set up a lot of things using their Gmail account and does not want to keep these things forever or wants to transfer them to another person before losing them forever!
By default, Google retains a Gmail account or Google account indefinitely unless you set up an inactive account manager. Therefore, if someone sets it up, their Google account will be deleted after their activity on Google stops or the data associated with it is transferred to another person authorized by the account owner.
So, how does Google detect activity on your account?
In fact, Google can track your activity remarkably using various methods. For example, if you use an Android phone, it becomes very easy for Google to track your activities. Almost all Android users have a Google account and Google can simply track your activities from your phone. Moreover, they can also track recent login information to your Gmail account. On the other hand, they can fetch information from Google Maps or even other Google applications.
Very Important: How to prevent Google from eavesdropping on you through your phone
Steps to set up an inactive account manager on Google
To nominate an inactive account manager, first; open your Google account settings> click on “Data and Privacy”> under More options, select “Set up a plan for your digital legacy”, you will now see the Inactive Account Manager page> you can customize your Google account settings from here> now click on “Get started”; to specify the time at which Google should consider your account inactive> choose from 3, 6, 12, or 18 months. Then enter your alternative contact details, such as mobile phone number and email address> then click “Next”.
Here click on “Add person” and enter the email address of the person you have designated to be the inactive account manager. But the email address you add should not be a Gmail account> then choose the amount of information the inactive account manager can access. If you only want them to be able to access certain aspects of your Google account, you can manually review what you want to share before clicking “Next”. If you trust this contact a lot, you can choose to select all before clicking “Next”.
On the other hand, if you want to permanently delete your Google account, you can activate the toggle switch next to “Yes, delete my inactive account in Google”. Enable this option and click on the “Review plan” button. After that, you can confirm and enable the change for your account. Once selected, Google will automatically delete your account after the duration of inactivity you specified.
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What happens when Google detects inactivity on your account?
When Google cannot detect any activity, it will contact the trusted contact you designated yourself. There are two types of actions that will be taken depending on the settings you have set; either share your Google account information with the trusted contact. Or delete your Google account on your behalf. But beware! If you have not used your Google account for a while, and Google deletes your account, you will not be able to recover this account again.
This may be a weakness, but Google will contact the trusted contact via email in addition to the mobile phone number you entered before applying complete deletion. The contact and email will receive a notification one month before. In other words, if you set three months of inactivity, your contact will receive a notice after two months and so on. That’s all there is to it, it’s really easy to set up, but most people are unaware of it!
