How can you delete your Gmail account? So!

Would you rather use a different email provider or don’t like some of Google’s choices? You may then want to delete your Gmail account. Fortunately, that is not difficult. This way you approach it in several steps.

Step 1: Check if you really want it

You can choose whether you want to delete your entire Google account or just your Gmail. In the first scenario we assume your entire Google account, later in this article under the heading ‘Delete only Gmail’ you can only change Gmail. First of all, it’s good to realize that while uninstalling is always a possibility, restoring is not. That means once you’ve made the choice to get rid of your Gmail account, there’s probably no going back.

So think before you start, because Google (unlike, for example, Twitter) does not give you a month to think about it. So, if you continue with this, keep in mind that you will lose all data and content in your account, you will no longer be able to access Calendar, Drive, and so on. In addition, you will also lose your subscriptions within the Google Play store.

You may be wondering what the Play Store and Google Drive have to do with Gmail. Google works with one account for everything. This ensures a nice, seamless and smooth user experience, but does mean that if you want to delete your Gmail account, you delete your entire Google account. Another thing to keep in mind, because it has far-reaching consequences. Especially if you also use an Android phone.

You can no longer download or update apps from the Play Store on your Android phone. Music, books, movies, and magazines within Google Play will disappear (even if you’ve paid for them). You will lose contacts in your Google account and your data will no longer be stored in Drive, so you may not have a backup. The same applies to a Chromebook: you can no longer download Chrome apps for the deleted account and you can no longer log in with your Google account (because that no longer exists).

Step 2: Download your data

A Gmail account is often not only used to check your email, but also to log in to other websites (such as webshops, social media, etc.), so think carefully about where you use this email address. If you are unable to log in and an email must be sent to your email address, then you will of course no longer be able to enter that email. You will also miss out on newsletters and other information if your account still contains your old email address. In addition, it is useful to store your data within Google to downloadso you don’t really lose everything when you say goodbye to your Google account.

Step 3: Delete your Google account

Okay, you’re all set to delete your account. You know what it means, you changed your email address on other websites and you downloaded your data. Then go to ‘Data and Privacy’ within your Google Account. You do this by taking these steps:

1. Open Google.nl or Gmail and go to your photo or avatar (in the circle) in the top right
2. click on Manage your Google account
3. Go to Data and Privacy
4. Go to Your options for Data and Privacy and then More options
5. Choose Delete your Google account
6. Follow the instructions from Google and you will delete your account

Step 3 alternative: Delete your Gmail account

Did you do all the steps above (except 3), because you only want to delete your Gmail and not your entire Google account? Great because that is also possible. For this you need to take the following steps:

1. Open Google.nl or Gmail and go to your photo or avatar (in the circle) in the top right
2. click on Manage your Google account
3. Go to Data and Privacy
4. Go to Data from apps and services you use
5. Next to Gmail, click the remove-button
6. Enter the email address you will be using (note: this cannot be Gmail)
7. You will receive an email to verify your address and your Gmail will not go away until you click that email.

Hacked or stalked?

Do you want to delete your account because you have been hacked and may be panicking? Fortunately, Google has options to see which parts of your account have been opened by malicious parties. To do this, you go to the Security Check and you can see exactly whether, for example, your contacts have been downloaded, or whether your passwords have been opened. You cannot perform a security check on the account after deleting your account.

Usually people delete their accounts for not-too-fun circumstances. Hopefully that doesn’t apply to you. But also, check whether you may need to call the police for the problem you run into. Good luck!