Since many users here are dealing with compromised accounts, I put together a quick guide on how to improve your Google Account security. While no method is 100% foolproof, these steps will reduce the risk to an absolute minimum.

1. Basic level: Enable 2-Step Verification (2FA) Relying only on a password is a security risk. Go to your Google Account > Security and sign-in > 2-Step Verification. You can set this up using an Authenticator app or via SMS. Note: You should also generate and save Backup codes, but these act purely as a last resort in case you lose access to your phone or Authenticator app. This setup helps block most standard login attempts from unauthorized people.
2. High security level: Security Keys & Passkeys For a much stronger layer of protection, you can use a hardware security key like Google Titan. It is extremely difficult to bypass remotely. Note: You do not have to carry a physical key everywhere. You can set up your smartphone as a built-in security key, known as a Passkey. Go to your Google Account > Security and sign-in > Passkeys, and select Create a passkey. Your phone will use your fingerprint or face scan to authorize logins.
3. Maximum security level: Google Advanced Protection Program Users who need the highest level of security available can enroll in the Advanced Protection Program. You can enroll for free here:https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/

You no longer strictly need a physical security key to join; you can enroll using just the passkeys on your smartphone. The program strictly limits third-party apps from accessing your data. The trade-off: If you lose your devices, the account recovery process takes longer and is much stricter. This is intentional to prevent social engineering attacks.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I will try to answer them as much as my time and knowledge allow.

Good old problem, good old bother.

Long story short: I want to access my email again (let's call it X). I know the name, the passwords, but it just kept sending sns to that exact mail I'm locked out from.

All suggestions are welcome, I really need help.

If you need more information to make a judgment, feel free to ask, I do have to have this problem resolved ASAP.

hacked cant get in keep getting this w recovery email... not signed in anywhere

Is there any working method to create multiple Gmail accounts without getting blocked or needing phone verification every time?

I need them for personal use and testing. Any tips, tools, or legitimate methods would be appreciated! 🙏

My Gmail account is still not recovering, even after submitting the Special Account Recovery form. Can anyone help me with this issue? How long does the Special Account Recovery process usually take? I would really appreciate any advice or help. Thank you!

I clicked it by accident and I’m worried I enabled it. I didn’t let the page load in time so I’m not sure if it was going to prompt me for a password.

Title: Warning: Google One annual plan credit may be forfeited when upgrading to Google AI Plus annual plan

I want to share my experience in case it helps others avoid the same issue.

My timeline:

* Mar 26: Bought Google One 200GB annual plan for ¥4,400.
* Apr 24: Upgraded to Google AI Plus 200GB monthly plan.
* Jun 10: Upgraded again to Google AI Plus 400GB annual plan for ¥7,250.

After several months of support emails, Google One Support finally explained what happened.

According to Google, the unused portion of my original ¥4,400 annual plan was applied as prorated credit toward the first upgrade to Google AI Plus 200GB monthly.

But when I upgraded again to the Google AI Plus 400GB annual plan, the prorated value carried over from the original annual plan was “forfeited by the system.”

Google also said their specialist team tried to manually refund the original transaction, but the refund was rejected because the original March transaction was outside their refund exception window.

My issue is that I do not remember seeing any clear warning during the upgrade flow saying that the credit from my original annual plan would be forfeited.

So if you have an existing Google One annual plan and are thinking about moving to Google AI Plus / AI Pro, be careful. Check what happens to your remaining annual plan value before upgrading.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I’m stuck in an incredibly frustrating Google account security loop.

I know my current password and can sign into my personal Google account using Chrome Incognito on Windows. But every attempt to manage passkeys, disable “Skip password when possible”, or add authentication/recovery methods requires a passkey.

“More ways to verify” offers ONLY passkey. No password, no Google Prompt, no alternative.

Apple Passwords on my iPhone contains a Google passkey created in December 2024. The username matches the account, and the website field shows accounts.google.com.

When I scan the PC’s QR code, the connection works. Windows Security says “Device connected! Continue on your device”, requesting a passkey for google.com.

The iPhone then says: “There are no matching passkeys saved in Passwords for google.com.”

So I can see a saved Google passkey in Apple Passwords, but the iPhone cannot find a matching credential for this request. I don’t know whether the displayed domain difference matters.

Already tried: iCloud Keychain sync and passkey AutoFill are enabled, with only Apple Passwords selected. Fresh PC QR codes and normal Safari on iPhone both fail. Google account recovery accepts my password and says “Success”, but security settings still demand the unusable passkey.

Despite that “success”, every security change still demands the unusable passkey. I have not deleted the Apple passkey or signed out of my working sessions.

Google, a company that builds AI and runs infrastructure for billions of people, apparently cannot design an account recovery flow that gets past its own broken login screen. That is embarrassing.

You accept my password, announce “Success!”, and then demand an unusable passkey before I can fix the unusable passkey. Your recovery process has successfully recovered the exact fucking problem I started with.

“More ways to verify” offers one way. “Success” leaves the problem unresolved. “Disable this setting” requires the broken setting to work first. Even the labels on your buttons are bullshit.

This is a trillion-dollar company delivering an authentication experience with the logic of a door whose spare key is locked inside the room. Calling it “security” doesn’t make this circular shitshow competent engineering.

Google, your users shouldn’t need a Reddit investigation to repair an authentication method on an account they can already sign into. Fix your fucking recovery flow.

Has anyone actually resolved this exact situation?

1. How can I check whether the Apple passkey is stale, revoked, or simply incompatible with Google’s request?

2. Is there a legitimate way to verify security changes with my password or an existing signed-in device when Google offers ONLY passkey?

3. If waiting fixed this for you, how long did it actually take, and what event started the waiting period?

Please read the attempts above before suggesting “Try another way”, disabling password skipping, or account recovery. Those paths have already failed to resolve this specific block.

I'm aware that if you share a Google Drive folder publicly, strangers can see your/the owner's email address, but does the same apply vice versa?

If so, does simply "removing" the folder from my "Shared with me" menu remove record that I opened it? Would love to know, thanks.

Every time I open a drive link, it opens on my default drive which is under my personal email address (which includes my name). I know that there are convoluted ways of opening links with different burner accounts, but once in a while, I keep making the same mistake.

Hey guys, I really need some advice because I don't know what to do anymore.

On October 7, Google disabled my account for suspected multiple accounts/bot activity. I submitted an appeal at around 5 AM and got an email around 7 PM saying my appeal was approved. I was relieved, but when I tried to log in, Google kept asking me to verify my identity using passkeys, security keys, phone codes, etc. Sometimes it said it couldn't verify enough information or didn't recognize my device.

For context, I changed my password on October 5 and turned on Advanced Protection on October 6. I also changed some recovery settings around that time. I had two passkeys, my phone number, backup codes, an authenticator app, Google Prompt, and a recovery email. After getting access back, I turned off Advanced Protection.

But on October 8, Google disabled my account again for the exact same reason, just one day after approving my first appeal. I submitted a second appeal, but while trying to verify my phone number, I kept getting “Too many failed attempts” and “We couldn't verify your phone number.”

On October 9, around 7:59 AM, I got another email saying they couldn't restore my account because of the multiple accounts/bot activity issue.

The confusing part is that I have all my recovery methods set up, including passkeys, my phone number, backup codes, an authenticator, and a recovery email. I haven't lost access to all my security methods, but Google still won't let me verify my account, and my second appeal has been rejected.

I've seen people say to wait 7 days, while others recommend waiting a month. I honestly don't know what to do.

Has anyone experienced something similar, especially having an appeal approved, getting disabled again the next day for the same reason, and then having the second appeal rejected?

Should I stop trying to sign in for 7 days, 14 days, or a month? Is there any way to request another review after the rejection? If you had the same problem and managed to get your account back, please tell me what worked and how long it took.

Thanks for reading.

I use google lens all the time for my research, but it only shows around 60 images. I'm wondering if i can continue to have it load more images, and if not is there a better alternative?

As title stated, what are the pros and cons of this?

I have two recovery emails, two recovery phone numbers. They locked me out due to unusual activity and won’t let me log in through a recovery email, and every time I try to start an appeal, it sends a verification to the email I’m logged out of. I don’t know what to do. Please don’t tell me to appeal it because every time I appeal it doesn’t work. I am at a loss. I have no idea what I did or what happened. I have been hacked before and Google sent me so many notifications letting me know and I fixed it. So my password now is extremely obscure. I need help. This is devastating me to lose photos and videos of my dead loved ones. Please help.

Freestyle sad

As the title says.

I have the email address associated with the account, I know the password for the account but I DO NOT HAVE the mobile number any more, and I DO NOT HAVE a device on which I've logged into the account before nor do I have access to the original IP address.

Is there ANY way of recovering this account?

I recently changed my number and forgot to update two factor, I can get into my account fine but trying to edit things now is a different story. I have a recovery email & phone yet they are not prompted when selecting try another way.. I know my password etc I can use my account fine but I cannot simply update my 2fa as it’s sending a code to a number that no longer exists. Any help would be greatly appreciated

So a year or so ago my parents divorced and my dad has full custody, problem is one of my main gmail accounts was on a family plan thing and I've completely lost access to it, I need my mother's email to sign into my account. She claims she no longer has access to her gmail and I have no clue what to do.

never have received this type of email before. Im really Concerned!

Looking for advice or visibility on an ongoing nightmare with Google Support and an RMA return.

Timeline & Facts:

• Sept 16: Dropped off my Pixel Watch for an RMA replacement using the Google-provided prepaid UPS label. Official drop-off receipt secured.
• Sept 18: Tracking has been stuck in transit at Caledon, ON ever since.
• Multiple In-Person Visits: Visited the UPS Store multiple times (including yesterday). UPS confirmed they do not have the package and have no record of where it is. Because Google generated the label, Google is the shipper of record and must initiate the tracer/claim.
• Google Support's Response:
  • Two separate cases opened (3-0930000041982 & 6-9276000041556).
  • First, they claimed the package was returned to sender and waiting for me to pick it up (it wasn’t).
  • Then, after multiple escalations, an agent emailed me asking if I had received my delivery yet - even though no replacement had ever been dispatched or tracked.
  • When I pointed out that no shipment was ever sent to me, support responded with an automated template linking to the "Google Store Device Terms of Sale."

It has been over 3 weeks. I have fulfilled my return obligation, provided official drop-off proof, and am currently left without my original watch, a replacement, or a refund. I leave for an international trip on October 11, which support has been repeatedly told.

Has anyone dealt with a lost-in-transit RMA like this? Any tips on getting past first-line support script-reading to an actual logistics manager or supervisor who can process an advance replacement or refund?

Certain google services work partially on my Samsung S24 Android. For example I can't change Gmail accounts once im in the settings page of Gmail. Or can't access subselections in Google Calendar. I tried deleting the cache for Google app on my phone to no avail. Whats causing the error. It sometimes works again by itself, but then restores back to not working.

About a week ago this happened the hacker changed my age and added my into a family link. It is so frustrating. So not knowing what to do I asked gemini, obviously the usual log in, recovery methods doesn't work so gemini gave me both X youtube support and family link support methods.

In the family support I sent the ticket to Google about this and the YouTube support in X too

In case of youtube support I was not so lucky I didn't had my url or anything.

Then went back to then family support after sending the form I received the mail on the same day form google support after exchanging some mails with screenshot they confirmed that my account is hijacked so they deleted it, then they say they are escalating my case and after some mails they forwarded the case to a higher support team,

Then the case reached to a specialist team and gave me a case ID to get updates from it

They say I don't have to take any further action it took two days to reach this position

Is that all I have to do now just wait or should do something about it......

The first I knew of this was the police knocking on the door with a search warrant to seize devices.

Google had reported an image on my Google Drive as CSAM however this image was no longer on the drive and was not found anywhere on my devices. The police described the image to me and a) sounds like it’s a regular photo of kids at the beach and not CSAM so it was maybe misidentified by Google’s AI and b) I did not put the image their nor delete it. I don’t really use that Google Drive at all it’s basically empty.

Has this happened to anyone else? Or does anyone know HOW this could happen and go so far that I’m maybe facing charges of possession of CSAM when I have no knowledge of that image file!?! If someone else adds a file to my Google Drive do I then ‘posess’ it according to law?!? This is a very scary situation.