When you create a Google Account, you automatically get a Gmail address. But if you’d rather use another email address to sign in, you can link a non-Gmail email address to the account and use it to sign in, recover your password, get notifications, and more.
When choosing an alternate email, follow these requirements:
- You can't use a Gmail address.
- You can't use an email address that's already linked to another Google Account.
- Remember to use your Google Account password when signing in using this email address.
Important: The steps below apply only to an existing Google Account. Learn how to create a new Google account with an alternate email address.
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Open your device's Settings app and tap Google Manage your Google Account.
- At the top, tap Personal info.
- Under "Contact info," tap Email.
- Under "Alternate emails", select Add alternate email or Add other email.
- Enter an email address you own. Select Add.
- If you’re using an account through your work or school, you might not see this option. Ask your administrator for help.
We'll send an email with a verification link to your alternate email address. You'll need to open the email and click the link before you can sign in to your account with the alternate address. You might not get the email right away.
If you can’t find the message, see our tips to find the verification email or request a new one.
Remove alternate email addresses
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Open your device's Settings app and tap Google Manage your Google Account.
- At the top, tap Personal info.
- Under "Contact info," tap Email.
- Tap Alternate emails.
- Next to the alternate email address you want to remove, tap Remove .
See which usernames you can remove from your Google Account.
When people might see your Gmail address instead of your alternate email address
When people share things with your alternate email address, they will sometimes see your primary Google Account email (Gmail) address listed instead. Some examples include:
- Google Docs: When someone shares content, like a document, with your alternate email address, your Gmail address will show instead of the alternate address.
- Google Sites: When someone shares a site with your alternate email address, your Gmail address will show instead of your alternate address.
- Calendar: When you respond to invitations forwarded from your alternate address, the event organizer will see the responses come from your Gmail address.
- Google Keep: When someone shares a note with your alternate email address, your Gmail address will show instead of your alternate address.
- Google Groups: If you remove an alternate email address that was part of a group, your Gmail address might show up instead.
- Google Ads: When you accept an invitation to use a Google Ads account with your alternate email address, your Gmail address and your alternate email address will show on the account access page.
If someone accidentally adds your email address to their account for password recovery purposes:
- You will get an email from Google about their account.
- The notification can be about the creation of a new account, a password change, or contain a password-reset link for their account.
If you happen to get one of these emails:
- Your account is safe.
- You can remove your email from this other person’s account.
- Click the link in the email and let Google know that you didn’t create this Google Account.
- Your address gets removed from this account’s recovery options so you won’t get emails about this account.
- If you click the link, and then realize that you had, in fact, created this account, you can choose not to remove your email from this account.
- Click the link in the email and let Google know that you didn’t create this Google Account.