How to Find Out Who (or What) Is Accessing Your Gmail

This article explains how to find out who or what is accessing your Gmail information and how to use the built-in Gmail security tools to revoke those permissions. The article also includes information on how to see which apps and services have accessed your information recently.

Find Apps That Can Access Your Gmail Account

You may have given several websites and services access to some of your Gmail information in the past. Even if you no longer use a service, it can still access your Gmail account.

This Gmail management function resides in the web browser, not the app. To find out which websites and apps have been granted access to your Gmail account data in the past and to revoke access:

1. Visit the Permissions page of your Google Account control panel.

   Permissions: Google Account

2. Review the apps in the Third-party apps with account access section. Click any app that has access to Gmail to display in-depth information about that app's access. To revoke access, select Remove Access.

3. Repeat this process with the other two sections on the screen:

   • Signing in with Google shows the apps into which you can authenticate using Google as your credentials. Those services can only see your name, profile photo, and email address. These apps cannot access your account.
   • Google apps shows the apps made by Google that access your Google account information.

You may not want to remove access to some sites or apps. For example, if Gmail syncs with another email provider service or app that you set up and use, you probably don't want to deny the other provider permission to access your Gmail. If you no longer use that email provider or app, you should remove access.

What Google Apps See

The third section of the authorized services page includes a section for Google apps. Although these are all apps that are currently or were at one time trusted, if you no longer use these apps, you should remove access, as these likely have full access to your Google account. For example, if you use the Google Chrome browser, it has full access to your account. Full access means the app can view the names of your contacts, see your private Gmail correspondence, and read attachments.

What Information Is Protected in Full Access

Sites and apps that have been granted full access to your Google account can't delete your account, change your password, or use Google Pay to request, send, or receive money.

Locate and Remove Gmail Delegates

You may have delegated permission to someone, such as an administrative assistant at your business, to handle your Gmail account in the past, which allowed them to read, send, and delete emails on your behalf. This person enjoys broad but limited access to your account. The person cannot change your Gmail password or participate in a chat as you. If you've been through a string of assistants over the past few years, find out which people still have access to your Gmail account.

Access the Accounts and Import tab of your Gmail account by visiting the site through the Gmail Settings menu or by using a shortcut link:

Review the names that appear in the Grant access to your account section. To revoke access, select a name, then click Delete.

Recent Activity on Your Account

You can find out which services or apps accessed your Gmail account recently:

1. From your Gmail inbox, click Details in the lower-right corner of the screen.

2. Review the data in the pop-up window.

3. Look in the Date/Time column to see the most recent connections.

4. Look in the Access Type column and click Show details under any entry to see information that includes an indicator as to which app or service it was.

5. In the expanded item view, click Manage Account Access to return to the list of authorized apps, from where you can revoke the app's permissions if necessary.