Your Google account is the master key to your entire digital life.
Your email, your photos, your documents.
It also holds the password reset link for almost every other account you own.
So why is it protected by just one password?
Clearing out clutter and stopping the tracking are both worth doing.
Making sure nobody but you can ever get in matters more.
What should I turn on first?
Turn on 2-Step Verification.
That means a second step after your password, usually a prompt or a code on your phone.
Even if somebody steals your password, they cannot log in without your phone in their hand.
It is the single biggest thing you can do for your account.
Who else is still signed in?
More devices than you expect, and most of them are old versions of you.
Review every phone and laptop with access to your account.
Remove anything you do not recognise or no longer use.
A phone you sold two years ago should not still be on that list.
Then review "apps with access".
Those are the apps and websites you once signed into using Google.
Often that was years ago, for a single visit you have long forgotten.
Revoke every one you have stopped using.
Each one you remove is a door you no longer have to trust.
What if I lock myself out?
That is exactly what recovery details are for.
Update your recovery phone number and recovery email so Google can reach the real you.
An old number that now belongs to a stranger is worse than having none at all.
The easy way to do all of this is one page: open myaccount.google.com/security and run Security Checkup.
Google walks you through each item and flags anything risky.
One honest bonus while you are there: set up Inactive Account Manager.
It decides what happens to your emails, photos and account if you ever stop using it.
Morbid, but important.
Things to Remember
- Turn on 2-Step Verification today, before anything else on this list.
- Sign out every device you do not recognise or no longer own.
- Revoke old apps and websites that still have access to your account.
- Keep your recovery phone number and recovery email current.
- Run Security Checkup at myaccount.google.com/security and fix whatever it flags.