Step-by-step guide

How to recover your Google account

Locked out of Gmail, Google Photos, or your Android phone? Google’s recovery process is free, and you can do it yourself. This is the same guide we hand customers at the counter, and if you need someone to sit with you and walk through it step by step, we can do that too for a small fee.

Read this first

For security reasons, only you can perform these steps. No repair shop or technician can reset your Google password or regain access to your Google account for you — including us. What we can do is sit with you and help you work through it.

Cost

Always free

Start here

g.co/recover

Steps

Five

Steps

1 Start the recovery

2 The golden rules

3 Answer the questions

4 Check recovery options

5 If it doesn’t work

A note on scams

1 Start the official recovery process

Go to the official Google recovery page: g.co/recover

  • Enter your email address or the phone number associated with the account.
  • If you don’t remember your email, click “Forgot email?” and follow the prompts. You’ll need your full name and a recovery phone or email.

2 The “golden rules” for success

Google’s automated system looks at your “fingerprint.” To increase your chances of getting back in:

  • Use a familiar device. Use the phone, tablet, or computer you usually sign in with.
  • Use a familiar network. Try to do this from home or work, where you usually connect to Wi-Fi.

3 Answer the questions; your best guess is okay

Google will ask a series of questions to prove it’s you.

  • Answer as many as possible. If you aren’t sure, take your best guess rather than skipping.
  • If it asks for the last password you remember, enter the most recent one you can recall.
  • If you’re stuck on a question, click “Try another way” at the bottom to see other options.

4 Check your recovery options

If you set up a recovery phone number or a secondary email address (like a Yahoo or Outlook account), Google will send a 6-digit verification code there.

  • Check your text messages or your other email inbox.
  • Check your spam folder for an email titled “Your Google support inquiry.”

5 If it doesn’t work immediately

Google may tell you they “couldn’t verify it’s you.” If this happens:

  • Wait 24–72 hours. Sometimes repeated attempts trigger a security lock. Wait a few days and try again.
  • Check for a security alert on any other device where you might still be signed in, like an old tablet. You may be able to approve the login from there.

A note on scams

The official recovery process is always free

  • Google will never call you or ask for your password over the phone or through email.
  • If a website asks you to pay a fee to “unlock” your Google account, it’s a scam.

Stuck partway through?

We can’t recover the account for you, but if you’d like someone to sit with you and work through it step by step, bring your device in. We’re happy to help, just note that hands-on time with a technician is billed as a training service.