Popular search engine Google announced recently that it will provide free unlimited storage to its Photos app users in June 2021. The company will now remove the inactive Gmail IDs in the same timeline next year.
Google said that they are introducing new policies for consumer accounts that are either inactive or over their storage limit across Gmail and Drive which also includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files and Photos to better align with common practices across the industry.
After 1st June, 2021, if a user has been inactive on Gmail and related services for more than 2 years, they will no longer use the Gmail service and will lose the Gmail users ID. It will also delete all their contents permanently.
Google also said that active Gmail users who have excess storage beyond 15GB for two years are advised to either back up their data or upgrade to Google One’s subscription plan for continuing the use of cloud storage.
Google One service provides monthly (Rs.130)/annual (Rs. 1,300) fees for 100GB and beyond. Consumers have to pay Rs.2,100 (Rs.210/month) and Rs.6,500 (Rs.650/month) for yearly plans. These can also be shared with family members. Google will also bring some new smart features in Gmail settings.
Gmail’s Product Manager Maalika Manoharan said that users will get to see a new setting to control whether their data in Gmail, Meet and Chat can be used to offer “smart” features in these and other Google products. For example, tabbed inbox, Smart Compose and Smart Reply in Gmail; reminders when the bills are due in Google Assistant and restaurant reservations in Google Maps.
Gmail users will also get the ability to turn on some of these individual smart features. The new setting options have been designed to decrease the work of understanding and managing that process and improve user experience.