Google refuses to close the legacy GSuite account and will not accept user emails

Google has finally launched a solution for people with “legacy”GSuite Google accounts. After initially threatening to shut down free G Suite accounts if users didn’t start paying for the service, Google backed off entirely. Once users go through some registration steps, Google will allow their accounts, which were created approximately 16 years ago, to continue working. You can even save your email address.

So far the saga, if you haven’t been following, is that Google has a custom domain user account service currently called “Google Workspace”and formerly called “G Suite”and “Google Apps”. The service is basically a regular Google account that allows you to use an email address that ends with your custom domain name instead of “@gmail.com”. Today, this service is business-oriented and costs money every month, but that wasn’t always the case. From 2006 to 2012, Google accounts with their own domain were free and were even offered to families as a defiant way to get a Google online identity.

A week later, after the inevitable public outcry, Google relented somewhat and said it would eventually give you “the ability to move paid non-Google Workspace content and most of your data to a free option.”The claim that you’ll be able to keep “most of your data”that you’ve been accumulating for 16 years sounds pretty worrisome. Google’s only feature in January was that “this new option won’t include premium features like custom email”so you’ll have to stop hosting your email on Google and you’ll probably have to go through some wild Google account. conversion process. He then let those users flap the wind in dismay without any details for six months.

How to keep your free G Suite account

In May, Google finally told these users what would happen to their accounts. The new support page says, “For individuals and families using your account for non-commercial purposes, you can continue to use the legacy free version of G Suite and opt out of switching to Google Workspace.”The link for this is here or in the G Suite admin panel. You will need to verify that your G Suite account is for personal and not commercial use, as companies still have to pay for Workspace. If you’ve already bowed to Google’s will and started paying for Workspace due to the January announcement, Google advises you to contact support.

The biggest news from this latest announcement is that Google has decided not to take away people’s personalized email. The second support page says, “You can continue to use your custom domain with Gmail, keep access to free Google services like Google Drive and Google Meet, and keep your purchases and data.”Now it looks like there won’t be any changes to your account if you hit the “self-transfer”screen before the deadline.

The deadline for opting out of closing an account, which has already changed several times, is June 27, 2022. If you do not complete this opt-out by June 27, you will be automatically billed for your Workspace. If you do not have a card on file and do not opt ​​out, your account will be suspended on August 1st and closed.

Automatic registration and billing without the explicit consent of the user is one of the most mysterious parts of this story. If you don’t follow tech news closely, there’s a good chance you won’t know this will happen and you’ll either suddenly get billed without your consent or find your Google account has suddenly stopped working.

For a company whose core business is persuading users to store huge amounts of data on their servers, playing these games is a strange decision. At least I came to a reasonable conclusion.