Recently, Google made an announcement that it will soon sunset its consumer version of the social network Google+ after they detected a vulnerability that had exposed the personal data of more than 500,000 users. They’re eyeing to do it by the end of August 2019.
According to the review done by Google+ as part of their Project Strobe, although their engineering teams had worked hard and exerted a lot of effort into making Google+ better, it failed to achieve developer or consumer adoption. They’ve seen less improvements and limited user interaction with apps.
Ben Smith, the vice president of Engineering of Google, also shared that the consumer version of the social network has minimal engagement and low usage with 90% Google+ user sessions that are recorded to last for less than 5 seconds.
While there was no misuse of the data found, Google’s data and privacy protection office stated that the recent vulnerability had not met the security issue threshold to inform users of the data breach. In a report that was published on The Wall Street Journal, the vulnerability was not divulged because Google did not want to be put through to the regulatory perusal from lawmakers.
With that news, you probably are hesitant now about using Google+ or you might already be asking yourself, “how do I delete my Google Plus account without deleting Gmail?” Fret not. From backing up your data to deleting your account, here are the steps you should follow:
How to Download Your Data
Before you delete your Google+ profile, you have to download your data first. If you’ve shared anything on your Google+ account, such as photos or documents, go to the Google Takeout’s Download Your Data page. Toggle the switch for Google+ and other Google products or apps where you archived or saved data.
And then, click Next and choose how you would like your data to be delivered. You can opt to have a download link sent via email or put your data in your Google Drive. You can also have it uploaded to external cloud storages like Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox.
How to Delete Your Google+ Account
Have you already made up your mind and decided to finally delete your Google+ account? The first thing you should do is sign in to your Google+ account at the downgrade page. Next, follow the instructions that will be shown on your screen. You’ll likely be asked to confirm that you have read and understood the terms and conditions. Tick the check box and click the Delete button.
You will then be redirected to a page where you have to select a reason why you are deleting your Google+ account. After which, you’re done!
If you do not see the downgrade page and see the upgrade page instead, chances are, you did not have a Google+ profile or you have successfully deleted your Google+ profile.
How to Delete or Disable Google+ Android App
There have been reports that the Google+ app cannot be deleted on certain Android devices. Although that is true, the app can be disabled. You just have to go to your Android device’s Settings -> Apps and Notifications. After that, select Google+ and tap Disable or Uninstall.
Though this has nothing to do with deleting or disabling the Google+ Android app, we recommend you install Android cleaning tool on your Android device. This app can work wonders on your device, boosting its performance so you can enjoy using Google+ anytime, anywhere.
How to Restore a Deleted Google+ Account
Okay, you have successfully deleted your Google+ profile. Congratulations! However, you suddenly came to the realization that you need it back again because your life is there. You have friends and circles out there waiting for updates about what’s happening in your life.
Unfortunately, you cannot restore a deleted Google+ profile. Once you delete it, there’s no way to get your data back. So, think before you delete.
Now, if you decided to make a new Google+ account again, go to the home page of Google+ and click the Join Google+ button. Of course, do not expect you can retrieve your old circles and chats. Again, you cannot restore them even if you make a new Google+ profile.