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When my mother in law got a new phone a couple of years ago, we set her up with a google account so she'd get access to all the normal functionality of android. I set up the account and saved the password.
Got her a new phone and the password is wrong when I try to sign in. Somewhere along the line, for some reason, she changed the password or someone (who doesn't remember doing it; I've asked everyone already) helped her change it and nobody updated the tech support guy with the new info (me).
The recovery SMS number is my cell, but the texts aren't coming through for no particular reason. Murphy's law, I guess. There's no security questions or other recovery mechanisms setup on the account.
Anyone know of an alternate mechanism through which we can solve this problem? Some hidden option or feature or hail mary that I'm not aware of? I know, wishful thinking.
Try Logging in to your mother's account on a computer.
If your password doesn't work, do not keep trying, you will get locked out. You will be presented with a forgot password link. There are multiple ways to recover the account.
If you manage to login, you can get backup codes which can be used in place of the 2FA text codes to login to her phone.
I agree with gguerra, you should be able to use the "forgot password" method to see if you can reset the password which would typically be sent to an alternate email address and related news would be sent to the phone in the account. If you are not able to do it this way or get anything via phone or email, I'd say it is time to contact Gmail tech support. If 2FA wasn't setup there is a possibility of the account being hack and related info might have been changed hence no texts coming thru. If there is no foul-play, Gmail Tech support should be able to sort things out.
I agree, instead of phone/texts, an Authenticator app can be used to approve/authenticate access which is the default step on any machine which the account is accessed for the first time. If computer is trusted and you opt to remember the decision, authentication should not be needed again unless the related session login info and cookies were deleted from that browser.
Also for text messages, when I am near my computer, I use https://messages.google.com/web/ instead. Way easier than dealing with the phone, especially when I am doing stuff on the computer. Once you pair the phone with the computer, you are good to go.
"...contact Gmail tech support..." who never answers.
When I got a new phone in December 2021, I forgot about my online accounts and 2 factor authentication. The only one I can't get back is a gmail address. Even though I have a second email as a recovery email, when I go in to reset the password on the one I forgot the password to, it keeps trying to make me use the 2 factor authentication before I can reset. Meaning, they want to send a code to my old phone number that is no longer in service.
I've been waiting over a year for Google to reply.
"...contact Gmail tech support..." who never answers.
When I got a new phone in December 2021, I forgot about my online accounts and 2 factor authentication. The only one I can't get back is a gmail address. Even though I have a second email as a recovery email, when I go in to reset the password on the one I forgot the password to, it keeps trying to make me use the 2 factor authentication before I can reset. Meaning, they want to send a code to my old phone number that is no longer in service.
I've been waiting over a year for Google to reply.
Sadly, any big service provider with a free service like that will likely to be darn near impossible to get a hold of via phone but have you followed the applicable options listed here?
Worst case scenario, as advised at the very bottom, I'd look into creating a new account and inform all my contacts.
I did use my Google Voice phone number for Gmail recovery and Google Voice can relay calls to whatever your actual phone number is, so, when my phone number changes (planned or otherwise), all I do is update the phone number in Google Voice and I am good to go! Using an Authenticator app can be more practical but you have to make sure your account/recovery phone number stays up to date.
PS. A more secure method than 2FA which also doesn't require a phone or an app to authenticate your access is using a security key like this one.
Last edited by TurcoLoco; 03-25-2023 at 12:13 PM..
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