# How do I sign in to gmail?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 10, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368 "2025-03-10T02:29:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/1 "2025-03-10T02:29:04Z")
I have a gmail account I set up for my late-stepfather. I’m trying to log in, and I get this page:
[[Album] imgur.com  ](https://imgur.com/a/Tvn9AXg)
It seems to want me to set up a new gmail account, but I want to log into an _existing_ gmail account.
This is why I don’t use gmail. It makes it impossible to sign in.
So how do I A) sign in so that I can change the password; and B) get to a page that signs me in?
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/2 "2025-03-10T02:32:58Z")
Open up an incognito tab, go to [gmail.com](http://gmail.com) and login to see what happens.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/3 "2025-03-10T02:38:34Z")
No joy. It wants me to enter a phone number I had 20 years ago. I don’t know it. ‘Try another way’ says I have to have a Galaxy phone.
With all of the people using gmail, I don’t understand why they make it so hard to A) Have a bookmark-able login page; and B) Won’t let you log in.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/4 "2025-03-10T02:41:19Z")
You don’t technically sign into just Gmail anymore (if you ever did in the first place); you sign into your Google account (or, in this case, your stepfather’s Google account), and then, when you open up Gmail, you’re already logged in.
And that’s why Gmail doesn’t have its own login page.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/5 "2025-03-10T02:42:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> You don’t technically sign into just Gmail anymore (if you ever did in the first place); you sign into your Google account, and then, when you open up Gmail, you’re already logged in.
It takes me to the page in the OP. i.e., no way to check email.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/6 "2025-03-10T02:45:41Z")
When you first set up that account for him, I suspect that Gmail operated under its own login system; at some point, Google integrated it (along with Youtube, etc.) into a unified login across all Google products.
And, yeah, they aren’t making it easy.
My wife has somehow managed to create two different Google accounts for herself (one that she created when she wanted to subscribe to stuff on Youtube, not realizing that it wasn’t just a Youtube account). Now, juggling back and forth between her two accounts is a confusing pain in the ass.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/7 "2025-03-10T02:47:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> And, yeah, they aren’t making it easy.
They’re making it impossible.
I’d _like_ to have a free email address of my own. A lot of people use gmail. But I don’t want to use gmail if I can’t create an account and log into it.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/8 "2025-03-10T02:49:13Z")
Here’s a “help” page from Google on the topic, which suggests that, without the old phone number, a “known computer,” account creation date, etc., you may be stuck. The expert who replied in that thread flat-out said, “not all accounts can be recovered.”
> **[How do I regain access to an old gmail account? - Google Account Community](https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/14903277/how-do-i-regain-access-to-an-old-gmail-account?hl=en)**
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/9 "2025-03-10T02:50:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I’d _like_ to have a free email address of my own. A lot of people use gmail. But I don’t want to use gmail if I can’t create an account and log into it.
I apologize if I’m not following, but why does not being able to log into your late stepfather’s account preclude you from creating your own account?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/10 "2025-03-10T02:54:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> I apologize if I’m not following, but why does not being able to log into your late stepfather’s account preclude you from creating your own account?
Why would I create my own account, if I might not be able to log into it?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/11 "2025-03-10T02:59:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Why would I create my own account, if I might not be able to log into it?
Ahh, I think I understand – you’re now hesitant to set up a Google/Gmail account, because you’re now skeptical that you’d be able to log back into it?
If you’re starting from scratch, it should not be difficult to set up a Google account (yes, you will likely need a smartphone to do this), and thus, access Gmail.
I’ve been using Gmail for ten years, and personally, have _never_ had a problem logging into Gmail – using my Google account credentials – across different computers, different web browsers, and several different smartphones (though all with the same number).
The issue, I think, is that Google is particularly fussy about account recovery, if you _don’t_ know your old login information, or if you don’t have access to the cell phone number that you used when you created/last used the account. If that fussiness (a.k.a. their security protocol) doesn’t make you happy, then they aren’t the email service for you, unfortuantely.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/12 "2025-03-10T03:03:16Z")
Just curious, how old is this account and when was the last time it was accessed?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/13 "2025-03-10T03:15:02Z")
20+ years ago. I can’t remember the last time I accessed it. I had the same problem logging in before.
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Ahh, I think I understand – you’re now hesitant to set up a Google/Gmail account, because you’re now skeptical that you’d be able to log back into it?
Yes. I don’t have confidence I can log into an account I might set up. My current email address (the one I use for ‘everything’) was set up in the '90s. They changed things, so that I no longer have a webpage. I’m basically paying $35/month for an email address. I’t _like_ to have free email (in addition to my Yahoo account), but gmail makes me think that it’s not reliable.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/14 "2025-03-10T03:20:34Z")
I really don’t understand why you think if you create a new account today you won’t be able to log into. All the info you need for it will be current so why would you not know what it is?
I’ve had Gmail for 20+ years, I have never _once_ had an issue.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/15 "2025-03-10T03:21:27Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> I really don’t understand why you think if you create a new account today you won’t be able to log into. All the info you need for it will be current so why would you not know what it is?
Because I can’t log into an existing account. What if I set up a new account, and then they decide I can’t log in anymore?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/16 "2025-03-10T03:21:52Z")
What it looks like, from some googling (sorry) I just did, is that, in late 2021, Google changed how Gmail logins worked. From that point forward, you could not log into Gmail with just a user name and password – if you are attempting to log in on a new computer, or re-log in after a longish absence, you now pretty much need a smartphone to do two-factor authentication.
Because your late stepfather’s account is so old, and never had the contact phone number updated – so that, when they went to 2FA for login in 2021, it was a live phone number – that account is stuck now.
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I don’t have confidence I can log into an account I might set up.
As long as you have a smartphone, and follow their instructions as you initially set up a new Google account, you would very likely be just fine, and would not run into any of the issues you’re having in dealing with your stepfather’s Gmail account.
That said, it’d be incumbent on you to keep your cell phone number on your Google account up-to-date, in case you ever do change numbers. You may or may not find that to be an acceptable trade-off for free email.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/17 "2025-03-10T03:22:43Z")
But you said you don’t know the phone number associated with that account and that’s why you can’t log in. If you set up a new account and use a current number, what is the issue?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/18 "2025-03-10T03:23:09Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> If you set up a new account and use a current number, what is the issue?
I don’t trust them.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/19 "2025-03-10T03:23:47Z")
Hey you’re the one who doesn’t remember the phone number.
But you do you.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-sign-in-to-gmail/1015368/20 "2025-03-10T03:23:47Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> If you set up a new account and use a current number, what is the issue?
He already answered that when I asked him exactly that – the issues that he’s having recovering his stepfather’s old Gmail account are damaging his overall confidence in Gmail.
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