How Many Gmail Accounts Can You Have?

When you were younger, you must have been excited to get your first email address and went for one you thought sounded cool. However, with age comes wisdom, and you realize that the Gmail account you created does not sound professional on your resume. So you made another one to land a job, but after a few years, you quit and decided to open a business mail. Since you can’t mix your personal mail with your business, you created another account to separate them. Now that you have three already, you ask yourself “how many Gmail accounts can I have?” considering that you are likely to open another one probably to save your children’s milestones. Let’s tell you in detail the limit and enlighten you on a few ways to manage multiple accounts while still managing to protect your passwords and security online.

The Limit is Four

There is a lot of contradicting information that can leave you confused. For instance, Business Insider informs us that there’s no limit to the number of Gmail accounts you can have. The article only cautions on having too many Gmail accounts because you will have to remember a myriad of passwords. But with your devices making it easier to log in by saving passwords, that should not be a concern. Besides, Google goes a step further to make it easier by always asking you to choose a recovery email address if you forget your password. While this may seem incredible, there is a catch, as revealed by Tech Thirsty. You can only have four Gmail accounts using the same phone number. If you have opened a Gmail account, you remember that the process entails choosing the type of account you want then adding more information that includes a phone number. You have to verify that phone number by entering a code sent to it then you have to decide if you will use that number across all your Gmail accounts.

Part of setting up the Gmail account includes a recovery email address that Google will prompt you to verify to strengthen the security of your account. Luckily, even if you choose to have as many as four Gmail accounts using the same number, you can access all of them using the same browser. However, you should note that the limit of four accounts is not only when they are linked to the same phone number; even when using the same IP address to sign up the Gmail accounts, the limit is four. A discussion on Quora seems to contradict the fact you can only have four Gmail accounts using the same IP address. As per some of the responses, there is no limit when using the same IP address, but Google bots will flag you if they notice unusual behavior, such as creating multiple IDs. As such, some people advise making unique IDs every time you want to create a new Gmail account. Another person insisted that if you try creating another Gmail account after reaching the maximum of four, Google will respond, telling you that you cannot create another one. If you try to click on the “unable to create Google account” error, you will be prompted to switch to a new IP address.

How to Effectively Manage Multiple Gmail Accounts

According to GeekFlare, there are few ways you can manage your many Gmail accounts, and they include:

Switching Chrome Profiles

If you are using Google Chrome, you can have the advantage of separating your user profiles such that none of the accounts share settings or data. Once you set up your primary Gmail account, you can add secondary ones. To make it easier to identify the different accounts, Google extends the option to customize each profile. Once you are done setting up the secondary profiles, every time you log in to Google Chrome, the different profiles will be displayed, and you can choose which one you want to browse with, and you can still select both or more to browse simultaneously.

Using Different Browsers

If you would like to operate the different Gmail accounts simultaneously, opening and using other browsers is another option. Unlike with a private window when data is not stored, and you can’t access the history of the pages you visited, with different browsers, information is retained. You will not need to log in each time you open the browser, making remembering passwords unnecessary. The only downside to this is that some older PCs do not grant you this option, and it can be hectic trying to operate different browsers since each has its own features.

Using Your Primary Account to View Secondary Account Mail

If you do not want to keep switching between different accounts to respond to emails, you can set up your primary account to receive all emails. The process entails forwarding the secondary accounts emails without logging in to them, but the recipient will still receive the emails from the secondary one. However, you will know which secondary account the email is from, even if they go to the main account.

Why Do You Need Many Gmail Accounts?

People create many Gmail account for varied reasons, which are described by GetApp. Some of them include:

Anonymity

Just like you would prefer to use a private browser when entering specific sites, you might want to maintain your anonymity in certain areas. The article cites that you could be participating in a marketing survey or making comments on social media, and you prefer that the public does not know who is behind the keyboard. In such instances, using a Gmail account that does not contain your names is best.

Professionalism

When applying for a job, you want the recruiting agency to take you seriously. There is no better way than to have an email ID that sounds professional, and usually, that means creating an account with your full names.