The following is a comprehensive guide on the steps that should be followed if you find yourself locked out of your Google account. We will also cover the best ways to avoid such a situation.
Set Up Google Account Recovery
To preclude a locked-out situation in future, it is important to set up your Google account recovery details well ahead of time. There are two support agents: your recovery email and any attached phone number. You always need access to both. Follow all instructions below if you don’t wish to be locked out of Google account. Having access to a proper recovery email (provided you don’t forget access to that one either) is the simplest way to regain access to your Google account in any loss situation. You may use another Gmail address or Outlook, Hotmail, Zoho, Yahoo, Yandex, Protonmail, etc., as a safe backup. After this verification, you will have to sign in with your Gmail password one more time. Now your recovery email address is ready for use. From the Security section discussed above, you can also access the phone number associated with your Google account. This is a very important detail, especially if you are mostly online on an Android device, iPhone, or a tablet. In the past, providing a phone number was optional and you could skip the requirement. Today, you will eventually get locked out of your Google account if you don’t provide one. The good thing is you can use any phone number as long as you have access to its SIM card. If you are using a phone prompt or one-time password to sign in to Google, you can review the details here, too. It is up to individual choice whether you want to keep the two-step verification on. As your device can be damaged or stolen easily, not using your phone to sign in is smarter. Just having a recovery phone number is enough to prevent suspicious logins from unknown IP addresses. Click the Edit button if you want to re-verify or change your recovery phone number. Updating the recovery phone number is easy and doesn’t take too long. A verification code will be sent as SMS to your recovery phone number. You may also use a burner phone, which is recommended for privacy reasons, to receive the code. Also, from the Google account’s Security section, you can access your lost phones using the “Find your phone” feature. Select any phone that you’re no longer using to erase its data from your Google account. This way, even if your lost phone falls into the wrong hands, the unauthorized person cannot use the device to access your Google account and apps. Now that we’ve learned to set up Google account recovery, let us examine various scenarios of being locked out of your Google account and how to regain access. For recovering access to your account using the instructions below, use a desktop browser.
Scenario 1: Forgot Password + Your Phone Isn’t Nearby
After a simple security checkup, you will regain access to your Google account.
Scenario 2: Forgot Password + Your Phone Is Lost/Stolen
Google recommends using the screen lock for phones that are permanently invalid. However, the best way to invalidate a lost or stolen phone is to remove any trace of it from your device history.
Scenario 3: No Longer Have Access to Your Recovery Email
In case you forgot to update your recovery email (or no longer have access), it becomes a little more difficult to regain access to your Google account. However, there is still a way. If the alternative email account was never associated with any Google services attached to the primary account, you may see a “couldn’t sign you in” screen.
Scenario 4: Forgot Username
Did you forget your Google username? Go to the user recovery email link and get the details of the username from the “Find your email” section.
Scenario 5: The Best Option to Recover Google Account in Any Situation
Even in the worst situation, Google has a final, default, fail-safe mechanism to verify your identity and return you to using your account. It’s called Google One, a little-known paid Google service. You can set up a pro chat session and talk to someone from the Google team to help you regain access to the account. The only caveat is that you have to be signed in to access the Google One service. But it supports multiple emails, so if you use any one of them to sign in, you can always talk to a chat rep and never be locked out of your Google account again. Image credit: Pexels
