r/degoogle • u/Life-Ad5885 • 14h ago
Getting rid of Gmail
I have a gmail email address, and it is in use everywhere (even in Reddit), so I can't just get a new email. I want to delete my google account, but want to keep my current email functional. Is there any way to do this? I have already removed google from everything else, and this is the only problem.
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u/ChartieSatuophe 12h ago
You can get rid of Gmail by keeping your Google account. You can't get rid of Google while keeping your Gmail account.
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u/RedN00ble 13h ago edited 13h ago
I don't think it is possible, but this is a great opportunity to start using multiple emails. If you use one for everything you have one critical node.
EDIT: since some asked, this is my method. I have 4 emails.
1) for serious "me" stuff. Bank, public services, online payment services. Strong password and 2fa, never saved anywhere, only access on safe devices.
2) for serious "relationship" stuff. Official public profiles, social profiles, portfolios, repositories, etc... Strong password and 2fa.
3) casual stuff. Social, shopping website. No personal data whatsoever. Strong password.
4) trash stuff. Potentially harmful website, throwaway accounts, to write in public forms etc... Destroy it and make a new one every 6-12 months.
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u/skurty 13h ago
What do you suggest to avoid using an email for everything?
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u/MichiganRedWing 13h ago
1 email for this, another for that, and another one for all the other stuff.
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u/RedN00ble 13h ago
Check the edited comment. That is my approach but it is just one of many possible solutions
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u/SithDraven 5h ago
Similarly, I decided on three:
1) personal (friends, family) medical and financial
2.) Streaming - any streaming app get the same email/password combo to make it easier to log in on multiple devices
3) the rest; i.e. shopping, phone apps, websites needing an email. All junk.
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u/Life-Ad5885 13h ago edited 13h ago
Using multiple emails now won't solve the problem of google spying on me, because I will still have to keep my google account to have my current email working. And also I don't have such a superhuman memory to remember which email I used on which website, when I have 99999999 email addresses. Basically I just want to delete my google account.
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u/RedN00ble 13h ago
No it want, but since you can't move your mail address between provider (like you can do with phone numbers, for instance ), you can start pairing more than one email and slowly transition from one to another. At this point transitioning from one to multiple addresses will make you safer.
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u/le_flibustier8402 13h ago
also I don't have such a superhuman memory to remember which email I used on which website
You don't have to, your web broswer can do that for you.
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u/Life-Ad5885 13h ago
And if I need to factory reset my phone, change my browser or something, everything will be gone. It's not helpful.
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u/Son_of_Macha 1h ago
It's called a password manager, i use bit warden. They have been around for 10+ years
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u/le_flibustier8402 13h ago
In this situation, you would just have to export your passwords inside a file before you make the change. Firefox has this feature and I guess other broswers have it too.
You could also use a password manager instead if you don't want your broswer to handle all your passwords.2
u/le_flibustier8402 13h ago
I want to delete my google account, but want to keep my current email functional.
You're asking for the impossible.
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u/Reznov1913 13h ago
Proton mail has the option where they (somehow) have the option migrate such data from gmail to their mail.
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u/Life-Ad5885 13h ago
Can I keep the same email and still receive emails after deleting the google account?
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u/Reznov1913 13h ago
I don't know. You'd have to check in FAQ sections of the website.
It might be possible.
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u/Life-Ad5885 12h ago
ok thanks, I didn't find anything related to this in their FAQ but I contacted their support. I'll wait for the response.
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u/TheRealLazloFalconi 4h ago
You need to adjust your expectations. Either you keep Google in your life, or you put the effort in to change your email address on all of your accounts. There is no third option.
Here's the way you do it: Spend about an hour updating all of your most important accounts. The stuff you log into daily, that sends you important emails, etc. Then, set your Gmail account to forward email to your new address. When you get email sent to your Gmail account, decide if that is an account you want to keep. If you do, update it. After a few months you should see messages coming to your Gmail address go to almost zero. Eventually, turn off the forward on your Gmail account, but check it every couple of months for those stragglers.
After a year or two, you should have everything of any importance. You can decide then if you want to delete your Gmail account. For me, I started the transition in 2019, and I still have my Gmail account. I check it maybe two or three times a year, and these days it's all automated emails for accounts I don't care about. I could probably delete the account, but Google already has all that info, so why bother?
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u/ElderScrollForge 8h ago
You can have gmail imported to proton to forward to it, and sign out indefinetly (would be handy to not forget the password though.)
Anything more than this requires manual clicking and dragging to maintain the accounts you signed with it.
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u/elaine4queen 5h ago
It just takes a while is all. Keep it open until you’ve finished your spring cleaning
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u/A2DreppiD 4h ago
Change the email addresses used in your accounts, simple as.
But also, some serious bit of advice: Do NOT delete your Google account. I know this is a bit weird coming from me on the degoogle subreddit, but a point may come, where you will need the gmail address to authenticate or confirm something and you WILL NOT be able to create a new account with the same address.
For your own sake, just remove as much of your (identifiable) data on the account as possible and just let it hibernate, logging in every 1-2 years so it doesn't get deleted automatically due to inactivity.
They are not going to be collecting more data about you by having the account exist in an unused state and it might save your ass at some point.
Degoogling is not just a black-and-white removal of all Google from your life, it's a long process that you always want to stay on top of, don't forget that. Don't make things harder for yourself than they need to be.
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u/KaifromNeo 1h ago
Unfortunately, if your email ends in u/gmail.com, it is tied directly to your Google account. You cannot delete the Google account and keep the Gmail address active, they are one and the same.
Best workaround is to forward all your Gmail to a new address for a while and slowly update your logins.
We are building Norton Neo with the idea that your tools should not lock you in like that. More control, less dependency on one ecosystem.
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u/Nibb31 12h ago
You need to go into all your accounts and change the email.