Locked out of my Google account, any help much appreciated

Hi all, I know there was a world wide Google and Youtube outage yesterday, but I think issue goes back a few days before that. Whatever can go wrong, has gone wrong.

I changed my password then forgot it.

Google says it has sent an sms to my phone so I can click on the link and sign into the account from there. I never received the sms, and I have retried approx 10 times.

My secondary password is one which diverts to my gmail account, so I cant access that because I cant sin in to gmail, plus my secondary account does not have webmail, it just came free with my domain when I registered it (the company dont host my website)

I eneter the answer to my security question then it prompts me to enter a third email address where I can be contacted. I received an email with a code yesterday, and when I entered the code I was told that someone will contact me in about 120 hours to tell me if Im allowed back into my Google account.

There is a feature on my Android which generates two sets of 10 digit codes that I can use to verify that the Google account is mine. Where on earth do I enter this code on my phone?

Mods, if you feel the need to move this post to a more relevant forum, could you give it an hour maybe, because there is traffic on After Hours and I might get an answer.

Thanks

greasepalm

If you have a desktop or laptop use that as phone has limited features.If phone number is correct on your saved account you should receive a text on mobile.

Does wifi and mobile data need to be on to receive?

donspeekinglesh

The generated codes sound like 2 factor authentication codes. You put these in after your password, so not much help right now.

What network is your phone on? I think some networks have issues with receiving some automated texts like these

spaceHopper

Virgin media had a lot of issues with service provider text messages. Maybe call your providers customer care but at this stage I'd say you will have to wait for Google to contact you.

L1011

Its just not just Virgin - any MVNO not owned by the main networks is utterly useless at handling bulk text messages. Tesco, Lyca, Virgin, etc etc.

If you use anything with SMS 2FA - which is entirely false security if someone really, really wants to get you - don't use an indy MVNO.

riclad

I could only read my gmail on my phone for a few weeks,
if i put in my password on a pc i was told account blocked
because i had changed my sim card ,eg the 2fa no was no longer working.
i did not forget my password.
I went to settings security on my phone and put in my new no ,eg phone no for 2 factor
auth .i recieved a sms in a few minutes ,eg put in code 123455
,i put in code on my pc and now i can acess my email from any pc.
i,m not on a mvno , just a standard mobile provider.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-recover-a-forgotten-gmail-password-1172087

the 2fA Code was sent to my phone as a sms txt message,thru the phone network
eg i did not have data on or wifi on .

i think best practice is just to use another gmail account as the secondary account, with a different password or even use a free protonmail email account .
the chances of forgetting the password to 2 email accounts at the same time is low.

dam099

antigravity2 wrote: »

My secondary password is one which diverts to my gmail account, so I cant access that because I cant sin in to gmail, plus my secondary account does not have webmail, it just came free with my domain when I registered it (the company dont host my website)

Do you mean secondary email? Can you go to your domain host and change the divert to another email you can access?

riclad

I got a 2fa code sent to my phone today
, i don't know why, as I did not lose my password
It was sent as a txt message to my phone
Maybe someone is trying to hack into my Gmail account.
The whole point of a secondary account is
It uses a different password
And it should be independent of your primary Gmail account

Google gives you the option of setting up 2Fa on any phone and they send you a
2fa code by txt message eg pin no 56777900

observanto

Maybe this article will help you:

Gmail Account Recovery
https://gmailaccountrecovery.blogspot.com/
Information and instructions for the recovery of a lost Gmail account as well as how to re-secure an account after recovery. Last update: 07/2020

To avoid troubles in future think about a password manager.