How to sign out of all Google Accounts

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Let’s cut to the chase (never mind how you misplaced your phone): There are several ways to sign out of your Google accounts remotely. It takes three steps, and you’ll need the desktop version of Google. gg

  • On a mobile use a browser opposed to the Gmail/Google app and sign in at gmail.com.
  • Seek out “Desktop version” at the bottom of the window/browser. Click it. You may need to login again.
  • At the very bottom you will see “Recent Activity” in the right corner. Look below that to see “Details.” Click that.
  • A window will pop up giving you information about your account.
  • Look at the top of the page for a button, “Sign out all other sessions.” Click that.
  • And that’s it! Do this now to test it out.

You just signed out of your Google account. What this means is that anyone who might be in your account gets signed out or anyone who gets ahold of your lost or stolen phone/laptop etc will not be able to gain access, because they will need your password (which hopefully isn’t something dopey like 123password or password1, being that these are among the most commonly used passwords and thus very easy to guess at).

Keep in mind that Google has a device location tool. It works only when you’re signed in on the said device. So if you just signed out of all of your Google accounts, this location feature will be of no use. But if you happen to know precisely where your “lost” phone is, then it makes sense to sign out on all Google accounts.

Sounds odd, because chances are, if you know exactly where the phone is…it’s probably not in the hands of a crooked or nosy person. But you just never know.

For example, you may discover your phone is missing after you’ve returned from the gym. So you call the gym and sure enough, your phone was found in the locker room and turned in to the front desk. Thus, you know precisely where it is. However, who’s to say that a bored employee won’t tinker around with it?

If you know where the phone is, don’t delay in retrieving it.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.