How to Delete Your Google Account or a Google Service
We explain step by step how you can delete a service like Gmail or YouTube from your account or get rid of your entire Google account.
Are you done with Google? Then switch to products and services that are not controlled by the data monopolist. Afterwards you can permanently delete your Google account and all your data stored with Google. In a previous article, we already introduced some interesting alternatives to Google products. Now we explain how to delete a specific service from your Google account or your entire account and all your data.
Your Google account is usually linked to several services of the Internet giant, including the video platform YouTube or the email service Gmail. Before deleting, you should download all your data in order to archive it and possibly use it with another service.
Delete a Specific Google Service
- Open the Google Account page and sign in.
- Go to Data & personalisation, scroll down to the section Download, delete or make a plan for your data and choose Delete a service or your account.
- Choose Delete a service. The login screen will open, and you will have to enter your password again.
- You will see a list of the Google services you are using. Tap the trash icon behind a service you want to delete.
- A confirmation dialog will open (possibly after another password prompt) with a detailed explanation. You will then have to confirm the permanent deletion by ticking a checkbox. A final tap completes the deletion process.
Delete Your Google Account
If you delete your Google account, all linked services and data such as emails and photos will also be deleted.
- Open the Google Account page and sign in.
- Go to Data & personalisation, scroll down to the section Download, delete or make a plan for your data and choose Delete a service or your account.
- Choose Delete your account. The login screen will open, and you will have to enter your password again.
- You will see a list of the services and a summary of the data that will be deleted. At the bottom, tick the checkbox “Yes, I want to permanently delete this Google Account and all its data.” You may also need to confirm that you will continue to pay for all outstanding financial transactions. Tap Delete Account to complete the process.
- Congratulations! You have successfully deleted your Google account.
But please note that even if you’ve replaced any Google products with alternatives and deleted your Google account, you’re not safe from the Internet giant’s prying eyes. Google will probably still know more about you than your closest friends or relatives because its tracking scripts run on more than three quarters of all web pages, e.g. in the form of Google Analytics or Doubleclick. If you want to hide your online activities from Google and other data collectors, an anti-tracking tool such as Ghostery or the Cliqz Browser with built-in tracking protection is strongly recommended:
