Sadly, data breaches are a fairly common occurrence, and while Google has never been directly attacked, if you use the same password in Gmail that you use for a service that is compromised, then your Gmail account is vulnerable. You need to use one of the best password managers and enable two-factor authentication on your google account. But changing your gmail password can also be an essential step, so here’s how to do it.
steps to change gmail password
Because a lot of people use gmail for work and personal purposes, it’s important to keep your account secure by changing it every month. Users are advised to keep different passwords for each of their accounts, as you don’t want all your data or contacts to be lost.
one should try to use a password that includes characters such as commas, percent signs, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and numbers. Google always notifies you every time you sign in to your account on any device and keeps bugging you to check account activity. The search giant offers a password checker tool, which is basically designed to alert users if the passwords they are using have been stolen in any data breach. the tool is a chrome extension, which you should use to be safe.
here are the steps to follow to change your password in gmail 2021:
- go to your google account. you can directly visit http://myaccount.google.com or reach through gmail. for the latter, load gmail and then click its icon in the top right corner; It will be your photo or your initials. from there press “manage your google account”.
- find the security submenu from the google account page, go to the security section. it’s the fourth option on the left navigation bar.
- find the password section scroll down until you find a section titled “sign in to google”. the top option will indicate when your password was last changed. click here: google will probably make you enter your current credentials again, just to make sure you are who you say you are.
- enter a new password now is the time to choose a new password. Google recommends a password of at least eight characters that you don’t use on any other site or service. Regardless of the password you choose, you’ll have to type it twice and google won’t let you continue if the two don’t match for obvious reasons.
- Your password has now been changed. You will return to the security section of your google account without confirmation, but check that the change has been made quite easily. scroll down to the simple password section, and it will tell you when your password was last changed. it should show a very recent timestamp.
recover gmail password
gmail has a few different ways to confirm your identity and change your forgotten gmail password. Fortunately, they’re all laid out in a nice little gmail wizard that walks you through step by step.
Starting the password recovery process is quite easy: just click on the “forgot password” link on the gmail login page. then it will show you a message asking you to enter the last password you can remember. if you can remember a correct password and have a backup system set up, it will prompt you to continue in several ways. if you can’t remember any of them, click “try a different question”.
The next option will be to send a code to a recovery email, which assumes you have a secondary recovery email (which you set up when you created your gmail account). using this option will link you to your secondary email account (which does not need to be gmail), with a 6-digit code that will allow you to set a new password and regain access to your account. check your email on this secondary account for the code, then enter it to unlock a new password generator. newer accounts may also have a phone number backup option.
If that doesn’t work, and you have access to the account you originally designated as a backup, click “try a different question” again. now we delve into older and less secure methods of account protection, such as security questions like “what is your mother’s maiden name”. you should be able to answer at least one of these questions.
at this point, create a new password and confirm it. now you have access to your account again.
what happens when you change the password?
If you change or reset your password, you will be signed out everywhere except:
- devices you use to verify that it’s you when you sign in.
- some devices with third-party apps that you’ve given account access to.
- devices Helpful households you’ve given account access to.
When you change your google gmail password, you will be signed out of all active sessions, it is very useful if you forgot to sign out of a device. other than if someone has your gmail password and that person is reading your email, it can go unnoticed. they can do it forever unless you change your password.
so changing your gmail passwords regularly is common advice. in fact, it’s good advice because it ensures that someone can’t get your password.
change gmail password on android
These are the steps you need to follow to change your gmail password on android.
- open gmail on your android phone or tablet
- after opening gmail on your device, go to settings app, tap google again and tap google account.
- at the top of the page, tap security.
- under sign in to google and tap password, it will take you to the password page. (you may need to log in here)
- enter your new password here (make sure your password contains at least 8 characters, it is recommended to use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols).
- lastly, press change password.
your gmail password has changed. now you can easily access your gmail account by entering the new password. Gmail account password plays a very important role, it is required to access many google products, such as gmail and youtube. however, few people change their gmail password regularly. changing the password gives you security.
change gmail password on iphone
the steps to change your gmail password on iphone are as follows:
- once in the gmail app for iphone, tap the three horizontal lines at the top left of the screen and scroll to settings.
- then choose the gmail account to which you’d like to make settings.
- under account, select manage your google account
- from the options at the top, scroll down to security.
- under sign in in google, select password
- type your current password and click next
- then it will ask you to enter a new password. just like on the desktop, it will tell you that it must be at least eight characters long. then select change password.
- it will then show you a confirmation screen that your password was changed successfully.
what if you forgot your password?
when you can’t remember your google account password, but you remember your email address, you can go to the google account recovery page to recover your account.
Alternatively, if your Google account is linked to a phone, you may see a notification on the phone instead of a security question to verify your identity. the notification will ask if you are trying to change the password. continue tapping the ‘yes’ button and the original browser window should immediately take you to the change password screen.
once you get to the new password screen, enter a new strong password that you probably won’t forget. try writing your password down on a secure piece of paper or use a password management tool.
what if you forgot your email?
Things are a bit more complicated when you can’t remember your google email id. however, it is still possible to recover your account if you remember a recovery phone number or email id associated with the google account you are trying to recover.
Most people who also use an Android phone will have their phone numbers linked to their Google account for services like two-factor authentication. if so, this is how you can proceed.
- Go back to the google account recovery page. Instead of adding your email id, choose “forgot your email?” button at the bottom right.
- Enter your registered phone number or recovery email id. a subsequent screen will ask you to enter your full name. Enter the same name here that you entered when creating the account you’re trying to recover.
- Google has now obtained a verification code to your mobile number or recovery email id. Enter the code you receive on the next screen.
- After you successfully enter the correct six-digit code, Google will show you email ids registered with that particular phone number or recovery email . in case you have that number linked to several google accounts, you will find them all here.
- choose the account you want to recover. continue entering your password. If you also don’t remember the password for this account, you can continue by selecting the “forgot my password” button on the top left and referring to the previous section to change your password.
If you don’t have a recovery email id or mobile number on file, you may still be able to find your forgotten email id. In case you accessed that email id through a browser, you may still have the browser history from that day.
if so, go to the browser history for that day and try to find the gmail tabs. gmail tabs are likely to have your email address as tab names. From here, you can get your email id and continue to the password recovery section to change your password.
you have received a code by sms but you cannot change the gmail password
If an SMS with a verification code has been sent to your phone, make sure your service plan and mobile device can receive this type of message.
shipping speed and availability may vary based on location and carrier. when trying to get the codes, make sure you have a good internet connection.
If you have requested multiple verification codes, only the last one you received will work.
in case you receive the code by sms but you can’t change the gmail password, it may be that the time is not synced correctly in the google authenticator app.
to set the correct time:
- on your android device, go to the main menu of the google authenticator app.
- tap more then settings then correct time codes then sync now.
On the next screen, the app confirms that the time has been synced. you should be able to login. The modification will only affect the internal time of the google authenticator app and will not change the date and time settings of the device.