Google: How to Delete Your Google Account

Over time you’re likely to create a number of accounts on websites across the web. Given the scale of Google’s product range, it’s pretty likely that you have an account with them. Even if you only ever use a single Google service, your account works and is valid across the entire Google infrastructure.

If you don’t like Google though or just don’t want to use its services anymore, you may want to close your account. Doing so is pretty simple thankfully. First, you need to click on the nine-dot icon in the top-right of most Google pages, then click on the top-left option “Account”. On the account page, switch to the “Data & personalization” tab then scroll down to the “Download, delete, or make a plan for your data” section, and click on the bottom option “Delete a service or your account”.

Now you can choose between deleting a service from your Google account and deleting your entire account. If you want to keep using a specific service but don’t need others you can choose to click on “Delete a service”. If you want to delete your entire account instead, you can click “Delete your account”. Whichever option you pick you’ll need to reauthenticate to continue the process.

Deleting a service

If you want to delete a service, you will be presented with a list of Google services that you use with your account. A link is available at the top of the page to download your data if you want to download a copy of any information before you go. Once, you’ve downloaded any data you want to keep, click the trashcan icon next to the service you want to delete.

Once you’ve selected a service, you’ll be required to authenticate again, this may be annoying but it’s better than someone else deleting an account you actually want, or you deleting your account by accident.

To delete your account, you need to tick all of the checkboxes, to confirm that you understand what data will be deleted, then click “Delete my content”.

Deleting your account

You should make sure that you read the text at the top of the page, as this covers some important information regarding potential issues that could happen if you close your Gmail account. Once you’ve done so you may want to click the link to download some or all of your account data. Next, review all of the services and data that will be deleted and tick the two checkboxes at the bottom of the page. Finally, once you’re absolutely sure you’re ready to delete the account, click “Delete Account”.