Google Account Settings | Sync, Sign out, Find Phone, Privacy and Security Tips

See below the detailed section about sync settings in Google account.

How Sync Feature Works Across Devices

Please keep in mind that your Google Account is at the center stage of sync functionality in Chrome or other Google services. If sync is turned ON, you can use all Google services – Google Search, Chrome, YouTube, Drive, Gmail, Google Keep, Play (on Android), Google Docs etc – hassle-free and with ease on all of your devices.

I suggest you that you should turn ON the Chrome Sync feature on all of your devices, for making your life easier. For example, you have three devices - one desktop computer, one laptop and one mobile phone – you should sync Bookmarks saved links, web browser settings, basic info for quick auto-fills in online forms, passwords for secure and easy sign-in in all devices, sync browsing history for quickly re-opening webpages, and Reading List.

Sync Settings Google Account

→ Watch Video Tutorial below.

You can do this by clicking ‘Sync and Google services’ option on ‘You and Google’ page in browser settings on PC and then turn ON the button next to your profile name and image.

Under ‘Sync’ click on ‘Manage what you sync’ and toggle ON the items which you want to sync across devices. Personally, I select ‘Sync everything’ option for ultimate sync experience across devices.

Syncing is good option; for example, if I have turned ON Sync for ‘Bookmarks’ I can quickly access all my saved links for my favorite websites on computer as well as my mobile phone. If I add or remove an item from one device, it will be automatically updated in other devices.

On ‘Sync and Google services’ page, under ‘Other Google services’ I prefer to toggle ON all options.

I suggest you also select ‘Encrypt synced passwords with your Google Account’ option at this location; Chrome Settings → You and Google → Sync and Google services → Sync.

In Android mobile phone, click ‘three dots’ on top right in Chrome, select Settings and turn ON the Sync feature.

You should turn Sync feature ON only for your own devices. Keep the sync OFF while using public devices such as at library.

How Many Google Accounts Should You Have?

My answer is ‘One account’. Please remember that Sync will only work for same Google account on different devices. You should create only one Google account for personal use on all devices. It means you should have only one Gmail email.

Your single Google Account dashboard (https://myaccount.google.com/) will serve as main hub to control everything related your account.

Through this Google account, you will access to all of Google services including search, YouTube, Google Ads, AdSense, Docs, Maps, Chrome Web Store, Play Store.

Through this single Google account, you can control sync across all devices.

Mobile Phone Lost? Sign Out of Google Account Remotely on Desktop

Incidents happen in our life. Your device, especially portable device (mobile phone, laptop, tablet) may be lost, stolen, or snatched. In such scenario, the person who got your device can access your accounts including Google account with all its services such as Gmail, YouTube. However, the person will be unable to change password for your Google account.

So, what you should do?

Sign in to your google account in another device such as computer. → Watch Video Tutorial below.

Access the list of your synced devices in your Google account, under security or click this link.

In your Google account, select ‘Security’ and locate ‘Your Devices’ section and click ‘Manage all devices’ option. Select your lost device in the list. Here you can ‘Sign out’ of your device and once you sign out, the thief will be unable to access any of your Google service. Here, you also have the ‘Find device’ option.

Next thing you can do is changing your password for Google account. It is always suggested that you should employ 2-step verification as well as set a recovery email.

Please note that after your device is lost, you should also change passwords for other important accounts such as Facebook, Adobe or Microsoft. You should also immediately report the incident to police because your device might be used for any illegal activity. You should also request respective government body, to block the IMEI number of your phone.

See Third-Party Apps and Websites Having Access to Your Google Account

It is quite easier to login to a website with your Google credentials. For this, you first give permissions for the connection.

For example, you can easily login to Twitter, Facebook, GoDaddy, Quora through your Google account.

For most websites, permissions include only your basic info such as your name and email. Therefore, it is not a security issue for your account.

However, for some third-party apps, you give more permissions. It is always a good idea that before authenticating permissions, keep trust factor of the app as your main deciding factor. For example, if you give Microsoft (Windows) permission to ‘Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail’ for getting the service of combining the mail, you should feel no problem. Afterall Microsoft is as trustworthy as Google.

To see the list of third-party apps and sites, having access to your Google account, please click Login at below link.

🔗 URL: https://myaccount.google.com/permissions?hl=en

How to See and Manage Chrome Data in Your Google Account

You can see the data, Chrome has saved and synced with your other devices through Google account.

Pease browse this link.

🔗 URL: https://chrome.google.com/sync?hl=en-US

Here, you can see how many passwords, extensions, bookmarks are saved and synced by Chrome browser. It also shows you the number of apps synced from either Chrome Web Store, or Play Store on your devices.

It also shows you the number of active tabs in your chrome browser at now on any one of your devices.

You can ‘CLEAR DATA’ button on this page and Chrome data will be cleared from Google account. However, it will not affect your saved data – passwords, bookmarks etc – on your computer or current device.

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