My girlfriend created a new Google account. I was surprised to see that when I went to Google and clicked on the circle in the upper right hand corner with my initial in it that the box containing my name and email address now has a space below with her name and email address appearing. Are our accounts forever linked in Google-land or is this a function of the Firefox web browser? It doesn’t show up this way using Edge. Is it possible for two people using the same computer to have two separate Google accounts?
That is just the way Google handles it when multiple accounts have logged in from the same browser. For example, I can see my personal Google account, my main work Google account, and several additional work Google accounts. I’m sure in the bowels of Google they keep track of the fact that those accounts have all logged in from the same browser, but the accounts aren’t connected in any other way. Having access to one won’t give you access to the other.
If both accounts are logged in on the same browser, then you may be able to switch back and forth between them without entering a password, but that’s because they were both logged in. If you go to a private browsing window and login your account, you won’t be able to use the other account from that private window.
To avoid having both accounts show up, you can use different accounts on the computer, different profiles in the browser, or different browsers. You use Firefox and she uses Edge, for example.
It’s the same way in Chrome- I don’t think the accounts are actually linked. I think it’s just a list of accounts that have been signed into using that browser.
As someone who uses this feature a lot, I wish to confirm what the other people said. The accounts are not linked. It’s just how Google handles two people being logged in on the same browser (on the same device) at the same time. Before this feature, one person had to log out before the other person could use their account.
Note that, now, even if one of you logs out, it will still still list the other person, but if you click on their name, you will have to enter their password to continue.
I can’t promise that Google doesn’t use the information about who uses the same computer for advertising purposes. But the accounts themselves are not linked in any way.
If your browser offers the “save password” option and you both choose yes, you’ll be able to access each others accounts without having to reenter passwords each time.
You may or may not find this desirable.