How Do I Delete a Gmail Account?

Should I delete my Google account or close my Gmail account?

Please note that deleting a Google account should not be confused with deleting a Gmail account…

You can permanently delete Gmail from your Google account, but if you delete your entire Google account, then none of the associated services will be usable anymore (Play Store, Drive, Ytb, Maps Directions, Google Scholar…). Unless you act quickly, you will not be able to cancel…

To sum up: you can delete your Gmail address (and all sent and received emails) without losing everything else in your Google account. This is called “deleting the Gmail service from your Google account”.

What will you lose as data and services?

You have understood, what will be deleted is your Gmail mailbox: all your emails, filters, labels, groups and all the settings of your Gmail account. The good thing is that it cleans up Gmail storage.

You will not be able to use your Gmail address to send or receive emails. If you change your mind, you may be able to get your Gmail address back.

Your Gmail address won’t be available to anyone else in the future. Including you!

Downloading your data before deleting a Gmail account

For security reasons, you should first retrieve all the data associated with your Gmail account. To do so, click on this link to Google Takeout to create an archive and export your Gmail data in MBOX format

How to delete a Gmail address permanently

The steps differ slightly depending on the type of device.

How do I delete Gmail on a computer?

Just follow this link, select Gmail and confirm the deletion request.

In more detail, here’s how to do it:

1. Sign in to your Google account at myaccount.google.com
2. In the left-hand menu, click on Data & privacy
3. Towards the bottom of the page, locate the “Download or delete your data” block and click on Delete a Google service
4. Next to “Gmail”, click on the bin icon 🗑 and follow the last steps

How to delete Gmail on an Android phone (or tablet)?

Follow these steps:

1. On your Android smartphone or tablet, in the Settings application choose Google then Google Account
2. At the top of the page, tap on Data & privacy tab
3. Under “Download or delete your data”, tap Delete a Google service
4. Next to “Gmail”, tap on DELETE 🗑 and follow the last steps

How do I delete Gmail on an iPhone or iPad?

Follow these steps:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, in the Gmail app, tap Menu then Settings then your account then Manage your Google account
2. At the top of the screen, tap on Data & privacy tab
3. Under “Download or delete your data”, tap Delete a Google service
4. Next to “Gmail,” tap DELETE 🗑 and follow the last steps

Deactivate a business Gmail account

If you’re using a Google Account provided by a company, school, or other organization, contact your administrator by clicking this link.

How to close a Gmail account?

Be careful to follow these instructions in order to delete only Gmail, and not your entire Google account, otherwise you will not be able to use other Google services (YouTube, Maps, etc.).

How do I recover a Gmail address after I delete it?

If it’s too old, it’s probably too late… Otherwise, sign in to your Google account here and follow the steps.