Google account on phone

Today Google is the # 1 company in the world of mobile phones and Android. It is she who develops and implements new chips and ensures the security of data in our smartphones.

To use your phone 100%, you need to know what new features from Google are in your phone, how to use them. Let's consider how to create a Google account on your phone, why you need it, what information it stores and how it protects our personal data. Go to Settings> Google> Google Account.

Be sure to register your Google account on your phone. He is responsible for security, personalization and personal data on this smartphone. Without it, you will not be able to use many functions: install applications from the Play Store, use the Voice Assistant, set up security, archive, restore and sync your data with Google Drive, etc.

On the “Home” tab in your personal account, some services are collected that are responsible for the security of your data and statistics on the use of cloud storage. More about them later.

Personal data

Let's analyze the main functions in the “Personal data” tab. Here is your profile: photo, name, date of birth, gender, password and contact information. All data is protected by Google, and an attacker will not be able to access it. Do not share your data with anyone.

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Data and personalization

This tab contains settings for Google services so that they “adjust” to your preferences and interests. Those. Google simply collects as much information as possible about any user and uses it for its own purposes, including advertising.

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Privacy settings

The first thing to look out for is to check your privacy settings.

The system will suggest you:

1. Personalize your experience with Google services: history of applications and web searches. Google monitors what applications you use, what sites and services you visit on the Internet, remembers all your search queries;
   • location history. Google always knows where you are and keeps a history of the places you visited. Those. in fact, a map of your movements is created, which can be viewed in Google Maps;
   • information from devices. Here you allow Google to save all personal data (contacts, calendar, notes, music) in your Google account;
   • history of voice control. When you give voice commands to Google or Assistant, your voice is automatically recorded. The company uses this information to improve the speech recognition service;
   • YouTube search history. The entire history of views and keyword searches for all videos is saved. Thanks to this, Google recommends relevant videos for you to watch (based on your interests).
2. Set up YouTube access preferences: subscriptions and videos you like. Choose who has access to your videos and subscriptions, as well as your favorite videos and playlists;
   • YouTube action feed. You can enable / disable showing your actions on the channel. I advise you to turn everything off;
   • video privacy settings. When you upload a video to YouTube, you can make it personal, i.e. no one will see him – only you.
3. Set Google Photos preferences:
   • delete information about the location of the photo, available on the link. That is, is it necessary to remove the geotags of the photos available from the link.
4. Help contact you:
   • provide your contact phone number. In the future, it can be useful to restore access to your account if you forgot your password;
   • allow people to find you on Google services by phone number;
   • Allow others to view your public data (name, photo, etc.). Do not enable this option.
5. Choose what information on your Google+ profile will be visible to other users:
   • show or hide your posts in Google + communities;
   • do not use personal published photos as a background for other Google services;
   • recommendations of friends. Those. you see what your friends / followers liked.
6. Set up ads:
   • customize your ad preferences. Those. advertising will adapt to your interests based on your search history, visited places in real life, etc.

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Activity tracking

Google will monitor all your actions to personalize its services specifically for you.

Turn on the options that you think are necessary for Google to save them:

• Application history and web searches. Those. what programs and games you put on your smartphone, what sites you visit + history of all search queries.
• Location history. Google records all the places on the map that you have visited recently. It can be a month, half a year, a year or more.
• History of voice control. Record your voice, voice commands to Google Assistant and search engine.
• Information from devices – information about your contacts on the phone.
• YouTube search history: which videos have been watched + which videos you liked from being watched.

Attention! You can always delete the entire history in your account settings (click on any category and select “Manage History”). If you want to keep your personal preferences and places where you have been a secret, erase past history manually and turn off all options.

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Actions and chronology

Here you can edit or delete your saved activities (sites visited, videos watched on the Internet) and your location history.

This will open the Google Maps application and the Timeline section, where you can see in chronological order where and what time you were in a certain place. For example, this way you can track where your child, spouse or girlfriend is.

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Your actions and data

In your Google account, you can see what services you use and what information is saved about it. You can manage your search history on the Internet and on YouTube.

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Advertising personalization

Everything is clear here. You either allow Google to display ads based on your interests, or you do not – only on a general basis.

Based on all the data collected, Google compiles your advertising portrait. Click on “Customize Ads” to see what Google thinks of you. For example, here is my advertising portrait: age, gender, popular sites and my interests.

Parameters can be adjusted if they are incorrect.

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Disk storage

Here you can find statistics on the use of Google Drive cloud storage. By default, 15 GB is available – this is enough to back up all your data in the phone (except for media files – it is better to save them to a memory card or computer).

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Downloading, deleting and scheduling

You can always download your data from the cloud, then use it in another account or service.

You can plan what happens to your content when you stop using your account. Set the period of inactivity and indicate what to do when it expires: delete all data or give access to trusted persons (you must provide a phone number and email).

If you no longer want to use some service (mail, cloud drive, YouTube, photos, etc.) or your Google account, you can delete it. Before deleting, I recommend downloading your data or exporting it to another service so as not to lose it.

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General web interface settings

They are needed to work with search services on the Internet. The following settings are available:

• Language. We choose the main language for using Google services, including the search engine in the browser. You can add a few more languages ​​to include foreign sites in the search results.
• Text Input Methods – select a convenient text input method: transliteration, Russian keyboard layout, handwriting input.
• Accessibility: screen reading and high contrast colors.
• Search settings – settings for personal results and safe search.

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Bookings

Information about all your reservations of air tickets, hotels and hotels, tickets to the concert. The data will be automatically retrieved from Google Assistant and your gmail.

I don’t have any bookings yet, so I cannot show booking management by example.

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Safety

This tab contains settings related to your security and safety of personal data. The system will automatically scan the phone, find security problems and suggest solutions.

If security issues are found, click on “Protect Account” to see a solution. For example, I don't have a screen lock on my phone. To install it, use the tips from Google.

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Sign in to your Google account

Here you can change your password, enable logging in to your Google account using your phone, activate two-step verification, or get a security code.

Two-step authorization is when you need to enter a password and a code from SMS to enter your account (it will come to your phone, free of charge). Instead of the SMS code, you can use the Google Authenticator application.

What are one-time security codes for? They can protect your data. If you forgot your password or logged into your account from an unknown device or from a new location (using a VPN, for example), Google may ask you to enter a security code. Codes expire 15 minutes after you receive them or after you enter them.

Keep track of which pages you enter your password or security code on. The address must start with https://accounts.google.com/. Do not enter passwords on sites with other addresses – they want to steal access to your account.

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Identity verification methods

If you notice suspicious activity on your account (you often entered the wrong password, logged in from an unknown device or from a new place through someone else's wi-fi), you need to confirm your identity. To do this, in the settings, specify the contact phone number and backup email address (different from the one associated with the account).

If there is no second backup mail, register it. Optional on gmail, you can on yandex or mail.

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Recent events

In this section, you can see the latest changes to your account for the last 28 days. If you find unusual activity, for example, logging in from a new device from another country, immediately change the password in your account.

Fortunately, my account is securely protected – there is no suspicious activity.

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Your devices

Shows which devices are linked to your Google account. I have 2 Galaxy A5 phones.

A lost or stolen phone can also be found here. You will need to log into your Google account. More details here.

You can control connected devices. You can close access to your Google account or find your lost phone.

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Third-party apps with account access

Shows which sites, games and programs you have given access to some of your Google account data. This data may include confidential information. Close access to applications if you don't trust them.

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Untrusted apps that have access to your account

Apps and devices using unreliable login technologies are automatically denied access to your account for security reasons. I do not recommend enabling access.

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Sign in to other sites with a Google account

There are 2 options available here: login via Google account and view saved passwords.

You can use your Google account to log in to some games and applications on sites. A list of such programs and sites can be found here.

By saving passwords in Chrome and Android browsers, you can automatically go to some sites on the Internet where you have already logged in with a password before. Click on the “Saved Passwords” option to set up and edit passwords.

The option “Suggest saving passwords” is available. When you enter a password in the Chrome browser, you will be prompted to save this password. All saved passwords and sites for which passwords are not saved are also listed here.

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Access settings

The fourth tab in Google Account displays settings for contacts, geodata transfer, access to personal data and your recommendations in ads (I already wrote about them above in the article).

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Contacts

Set up your contact list to make it easier to communicate with other users on Google services, such as gmail.

You can manually add contacts, as well as enable automatic saving of contact information of users with whom you communicate through Google services (gmail). This will make it easier to find the right addressee.

Or, you can block users with whom you do not want to communicate anymore. You won't see any letters, notifications from them anymore.

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Geodata transfer

This feature allows you to share your location with selected people (Location History must be enabled on your phone). Often, parents activate this option so that they know where the child is, where he goes after school.

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Access to data about you

Set up access so that other users of Google services can see your data: name, date of birth, place of residence, etc.

Additionally, set the Google+ settings: receive notifications, access your posts. the ability to write messages to you, etc.

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Payments and subscriptions

In this last tab, you can set and configure payment methods for goods and services on the Internet, monitor your purchases and paid subscriptions. And also manage reservations – I've already written about them.

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Payment Methods

Add your plastic card to the Google Pay payment system and make payments on the Internet and in stores convenient and safe. To pay in a store, the phone must have an NFC chip – just bring the phone to the payment terminal at a distance of 1-2 cm, and the payment is made. A similar payment method can be used in all public places where there are payment terminals – in shopping centers, metro, public transport, cinemas.

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Purchases

The history of all your purchases is saved here, including transfers and payments in the online store. The data comes from Google Assistant, Gmail, or Google Pay.

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Subscriptions

Information about subscriptions to various services: music news, youtube premium and others. In the settings, you can renew or cancel your subscription.

Well, I already wrote about reservations earlier in this article. This section contains all information about air tickets, hotel reservations, restaurants, theaters, if you made all these reservations through Google or received a booking confirmation by e-mail.

That's all. Any questions or comments? Write in the comments.