How to Recover a Google Account Without a Phone Number or Recovery Email

Losing access to your Google account is stressful: Gmail, Google Photos, Drive, YouTube and your Android phone’s backups all live behind it. If you’ve also lost the phone number or recovery email linked to the account, recovery is harder, but it’s often still possible.

There’s one important thing to know first: Google doesn’t offer phone or chat support to recover free personal accounts. Everything goes through the automated recovery form, so the way you fill it in matters a lot. Anyone who claims they can recover your account for a fee is almost certainly a scammer.

Short answer: go to Google’s account recovery page from a phone or computer you’ve signed in on before, at home or wherever you usually use it, answer every question as accurately as you can, guess rather than skip, and give an email address you can check. If it fails, wait and try again from the same device.

Before you start

The recovery system decides whether you’re the owner by looking for signals it already knows. Give it as many as you can:

• Use a device you’ve signed in on before, ideally your usual phone or computer.
• Use your usual browser on that device, such as the same Chrome you normally use.
• Be in a usual place, such as home or your office, on the same Wi-Fi you normally use.
• Have a notebook ready with old passwords you remember, the month and year you created the account, and other email addresses you’ve used.

Step-by-step recovery

1. Go to accounts.google.com/signin/recovery (or tap Forgot password? on the sign-in screen).
2. Enter your Gmail address.
3. When asked for the last password you remember, enter the most recent one you can recall, exactly, including capital letters. If you can’t remember a recent one, an older password is better than nothing.
4. If Google offers to send a code to a phone or email you no longer have, tap Try another way. Keep tapping it to see every option.
5. Answer every question you’re shown. Don’t skip. If you’re unsure, make your best guess: wrong guesses don’t remove you from the process.
6. When asked for an email address where Google can contact you, give one you can open right now. If you’ve ever added an alternate or contact email to the account, that’s the best one to use.
7. Submit and check that inbox (and its spam folder) for a message from Google.

If Google says it couldn’t verify you

You’ll often see “Google couldn’t verify this account belongs to you.” That’s not the end:

• Try again from the same device and place after a while. Repeated, consistent attempts from a familiar device help.
• Sign in on an old device if you still have one that’s logged in, such as an old phone, tablet or a computer where Gmail is still open. Then go to your Google Account settings and add a new phone number and recovery email right away.
• Recovery can take time. Sometimes Google asks you to wait several days for security reasons, especially if someone else recently changed the password. Don’t start a new request every hour; that can reset the wait.

If someone else took over your account

If you received an email saying your password or recovery details were changed and it wasn’t you, act fast:

1. Use the link in that security email (“This wasn’t me” or similar) as soon as possible. For a while after a change, your old recovery phone or email can often still be used to get the account back.
2. Follow the recovery steps above from your usual device.
3. Once you’re back in, go to Security in your Google Account, review Your devices, sign out of any you don’t recognise, change your password and turn on 2-Step Verification.

Watch out for recovery scams

Google says it never asks for your password or verification codes by email, phone call or message. Never share them with anyone, and only enter them at accounts.google.com. Facebook groups and websites offering “Gmail recovery service” are scams that either take your money or try to take over the account themselves.

If recovery really fails

If you’ve tried several times over a couple of weeks from your usual device and still can’t get in, it’s usually time to create a new Google account. On your Android phone, add the new account, then contact the people and services that know your old address.

How to never be locked out again

Once you’re back in, or on any account you still control, take five minutes now:

• Add an up-to-date recovery phone number and recovery email in your Google Account’s Security settings.
• Turn on 2-Step Verification and keep backup codes printed or saved somewhere safe.
• Sign in on a second device, such as a tablet or an old phone, and leave it signed in. A signed-in device is the strongest recovery signal there is.
• If you change your SIM or phone number, update your Google account the same day.

The short version

Use Google’s recovery page from a device and place you normally use, enter your most recent password exactly, use Try another way, answer everything without skipping and give an email you can check. If it fails, wait and try again from the same device rather than starting over repeatedly. Never pay a “recovery service”. If the trouble started with a full phone or failed backups, see how to fix “storage almost full” on Android. Once you’re back in, keep your chats safe in that account with automatic WhatsApp backups.