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.
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.
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.
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.
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.