Discover what can access your Google account and block it

There are many websites and services that require you to sign in before you are allowed to access them. To make the task easier they often provide a Facebook, Google or Twitter login option. Click the button and you provide access to your account.

Apps on mobile phones and tablets work in the same way and they often require you to log in with a Google, Facebook or Twitter account. Let the app access your account and you can then use the the app's features and functions. Your account becomes part of your profile or identity for the app.

Some of these apps, sites and services that work with Google, Facebook and Twitter are very useful and you can link the calendar app on your phone, such as an iPhone, with Google Calendar, there are extensions for Chrome and Firefox that do clever things with Google Mail, there are apps and sites that combine and sync your contacts across all your social networking services.

I don't worry who or what has access to my Facebook and Twitter accounts because I don't put anything on there that I wouldn't want made public. (Facebook is designed for sharing stuff.) Google is a different matter because it handles email, calendars, book, movie, music and app purchases, and so on. Where email and money is involved, I worry about security.

Do you know who or what has access to your Google account? There are probably phone and tablet apps, browser extensions, websites and services that you once used, or perhaps tried for a short time because they were free and then abandoned. They still have access to your account and this is worrying.

You should regularly check who and what can access your Google account and revoke permission for anything that shouldn't have it. It is important to keep on top of your Google account security.

Go to accounts.google.com in a browser and click the Security link on the left. Scroll down a little and next to Connected applications and sites, click Review permissions. A list of sites, apps and services is listed and you may be surprised at the number that have access to your Google account.

Of course, there are a lot of Google services in there, such as Google apps you have installed on your tablet or phone. They are fine and it is the non-Google items that you should focus on. Look for any item you don't use, such as mobile apps you tried, but uninstalled, sites and services you signed up for and no longer use, and so on.

Click the Revoke Access button next to any item you don't currently use. This won't stop you from using the item in the future and all that would happen if you tried to use it again is that it would ask permission to access your account.