Have you ever lost access to your email account because you forgot your password and your recovery information is no longer valid? This can be a very frustrating situation, and unfortunately, it is becoming more common these days.
Leo Notenboom, the founder of Ask Leo, explains in a blog post that if you don’t have updated recovery information on your email account, you may not be able to recover it. This is because account providers like Gmail need you to prove that you are the right person to have access to that account. They do this by having the recovery information available that you can provide them at account recovery time.
If you let your recovery information lapse, it’s very possible that Gmail or any other service will not be able to prove that you are who you say you are and therefore may not allow you back into your account. The lesson here is to make sure that your recovery information is always kept up to date.
If you change your phone number or lose your mobile phone number, make sure that the accounts that reference that number have been updated. If you lose access to an email account that is your recovery account for some of your services, make sure you update those services with a new account that you have access to.
Leo suggests reading his article, “The One Step Way to Lose Your Account Forever,” which goes into more detail about this issue and provides tips on how to keep your recovery information up to date.
Losing access to your email account can be a stressful experience, but by keeping your recovery information up to date, you can prevent this from happening in the first place.