How-To

How Do I Get a Gmail Account?

By Austin Krause

Updated May 3, 2021

If you need a Gmail account here is how to create one and get started.

If you’re looking to get an email address for the first time, Gmail is a good place to start. It’s free, easy to use, and it works really well for most people. Gmail is hosted by Google, and as one of the largest tech companies in the world, it provides free email service to billions of users worldwide. If you’d like to have a Gmail account of your own, just follow the simple steps below.

Create Your Gmail Account

Open up your favorite Internet Browser. Click the address bar at the top, clear it out, and then head to www.gmail.com. Once the Gmail webpage loads up click on the Create an account button on the top-right corner of the page.

On the next page, you’ll need to fill out some basic information to complete the account creation process.

• You can enter whatever first and last name you like or use your real information. Just keep in mind that at this point, you’re probably not going to get the username you want.
• Choose a username, this will be the email address that everyone writes to when sending you emails. So chances are, you wouldn’t want to make it seymorebutts2@gmail.com unless you were some kind of comedian. A lot of people use their first initial or two followed by their last name; as an example mine would be akrause@gmail.com.
• When choosing a password, it needs to be something strong, but easy to remember. I highly recommend reading one or both of our secure password creation guides, which also have some useful comments at the bottom of them. [Guide 1] [Guide 2] Keep in mind that you should never use your email account password on any other site, it needs to be completely unique. And to keep your passwords in order and create strong ones automatically, consider using a free password manager that works on all your devices.

Verification

Next, Google will ask you for your phone number for security. It wants to make sure this is actually you and a six-digit verification code will be sent to your phone.

Type in the verification code that was texted to your phone. Or, you can have Google call your phone (or landline if you have one) with the code.

Recovery Email and Birthday

Enter in whatever birthday you like, but remember it. This will be a security question if you ever forget your password. You can also type in another email address if you want. But it isn’t required. You can put in your gender if you want, too. But, you can select to choose not to say.

Now you can choose to add your phone number to your account to use across other Google services. Here you can also select more options or skip this step entirely.

More options allow you to drill down more for what your phone number is used for. Like for account security only, for example.

Lastly, scroll down and click the “I agree” button to accept the Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It’s also worth noting that here you can click on the “More options” button and select what Google does and doesn’t keep track of.

Welcome to Gmail

For example, you can check the button for Google to not save your Web & App Activity or your YouTube History. Keep in mind that you can change these settings later, too. After you make your selections and click the “I Agree” button, wait a few moments and you’ll be brought to your new Gmail inbox.

Your first email will be from Google and it will ask you to verify your privacy and security settings, provide a link to download the Google app on your phone, and ask if you want to receive emails from Google about tips, tricks, and news for your new account.

For more on the search giant’s email service, check out how to enable read receipts in Gmail or how to add and edit contacts in Gmail.

And if you are looking for a more secure alternative to Gmail, read our article on ProtonMail and why you’d want to get an account.