Have you ever thought about the fact as to how many third-party accounts are associated with your primary email address?
In case you are someone who has already shared his email with several websites and apps, this aforementioned question is debatable in that case.
The very first thing that pops up in mind all of a sudden is that it is a common thing and not a big deal. The greatest perk is the ease of not having to type and remember your username or password and which apparently outweighs any far-off privacy issues.
While keeping in view so many data and privacy concerns these days, it is more crucial to stay on top of these accounts so you are well aware how your information is used.
It is worth mentioning that when you use single-sign-on (SSO), there is truly an expectation that security is baked in. That is why, the moment we come across a login option with Google or any other social media account, we pass on our email right away without any second thought. You should be well aware of the fact by now that social media companies as well as email marketing firms and app providers further propagate these email addresses all across the Web.
Why is it so crucial to find linked accounts?
It goes without saying that identifying accounts that are associated with our email is important for saving our personal information. Here are some of the major reasons why you should need to spend time to identify all accounts associated with your email.
1. To boost your privacy
With the number of data breaches enhancing day by day, doing all you can to remain private is rightly non-negotiable. This comprises identifying the accounts that are truly linked to your email, and also deleting some of them just in case if needed.
2. To avoid useless financial spending
Let’s take the example of a photo editing program where you signed up and then stopped using it almost on an immediate basis. Even then you are charged on a monthly basis for that service.
While it is true that amount of money won’t be that much initially, it adds up. That is why; taking true care of such subscriptions will undoubtedly prevent you from wasting money.
3. Digital Legacy
Last but not the least, it’s crucial to give some thought to your digital inheritance. This clearly means paying heed to what accounts you have open and also what’s on those accounts.
Learning to start end-of-life planning clearly means taking these accounts and comprehending how to handle it after your sudden demise.
By keeping in view the aforementioned factors in view, it is rather important to minimize your email’s exposure by attaining the visibility of the accounts associated with your email address.
Here are a number of ways that can easily help you out with finding all accounts associated with your email address. Let’s dive in,
1. Find Accounts Associated With your Email
Just in case if you have signed into apps and websites through the email platform’s rapid authorization button, the odds are you won’t have to go too deep at least to review your latest created accounts.
For all the profiles that you have created by employing certain options like signing up with Google, you can rightly head over to your email’s security settings.
There, you can easily go through the vast list of connected apps to edit as well as revoke their access.
Want to visit this section on Google, you can easily go to the My Account dashboard and just click the Security tab that you can easily find on the left. This is followed by scroll till you come across “Third-party apps with account access” and click Manage Third-Party Access. This is followed by tapping individual apps to disassociate them from your email account.
In addition, you should also consider strengthening your online security the moment you have got rid of unnecessary third-party apps. That is why; you should take a look at how you can easily enhance your online security and privacy.
2. Check the Accounts Associated with your Social Media Accounts
You can also easily find the accounts associated with your email by clearly checking your social media accounts. Doing this is important if your Facebook is associated with third-party services that need your permission to examine your contact list or contact specifics.
By clearly identifying accounts associated with your social media profiles, you can easily manage them more ingeniously, and also revoke access to those that can be harmful to your privacy. Let’s find out how this could be done on renowned social media sites.
On Facebook, go to Settings > Apps and Websites.
On Twitter, click Settings > Account > Apps and Sessions.
On LinkedIn, choose Settings & Privacy > Account > Partners and Services
On Instagram, Go to Settings > Authorized Apps
3. Find Old Usernames
One of the ways to check is by thinking of any old kind usernames that you might have used. There are certain people that have a handful of usernames they select from.
You can look for a username search tool such as Knowem to witness if the username is taken or not. While there is a possibility that someone else could have used that name, it’s still one of the ways through which you can narrow your search.
Moreover, if you are not satisfied with a username search platform, you can also make the most of Google. Looking for your username in “quotes” indicates everything in the index associated to that username. The quote gives a message to Google that you are looking for an exact match. You might also opt for searching your name in quotes.
4. Search Your Inbox
You should also check your email and also locate the confirmation emails in your inbox while searching for common subject lines these services send you whenever you opt to register for a new account.
In addition, you can also use Gmail’s search operators as well as keywords for filtering certain subject lines.
For example, you can easily enter “subject: verify” to bring all the emails with clear subject lines comprising the word “verify”. This will help you to clearly discover roughly every kind of app you’ve associated with your email address.
5. Check for your Browser Saved Accounts
Whenever you opt to fill up a form field across the web, your browser clearly caches your input. This process saves you time as you don’t have to type that specifics next time manually. This clearly applies to email addresses such as if you’ve forgotten your AOL username and also optionally, passwords too.
That is why, you can scroll your browser’s settings and go through the list to clearly find out any kind of accounts you may have forgotten about.
It is also worth mentioning that your success will wholly and solely depend on how long you’ve been making the most of this browser. Besides, you can also repeat this process for any kind of other browser that you’ve installed in the past.
As far as Google Chrome is concerned, you can find the option under Settings > Auto-fill > Passwords. You can also browse the entries, update them, and also delete them if you just need them in your browser since it’s certainly not safe.
As far as Mozilla Firefox is concerned, users should click Settings > Privacy & Security > Login and Passwords > Saved Logins.
6. Instantly Check All Accounts Associated with your Email
Deseat is undoubtedly one of the most efficient methods if you are on a look-out for ways to find all accounts associated with an email address without any cost.
The coolest thing about this web app is that it indexes your inbox and removes all the third-party apps you’ve signed up with that particular email address. This is followed by presenting you with a list so that you can conveniently decide the action you want to take.
Deseat also includes a Request Removal button and clicking this will enable you to email the related company a pre-written data removal request.
Deseat can be the best security threat too for any kind of sensitive emails. The developers clearly say they don’t harvest your emails and all kinds of sorting operations are performed on a local basis.
Wrapping Up
In a nutshell, finding all the accounts that are associated with your email is central when it comes to saving your identity. It doesn’t matter as to whichever of the aforementioned ways you want to choose, taking this matter seriously is a must as it protects and enhances your privacy. When you are done with that, ensure that you take extra steps to improve your privacy which includes strengthening your passwords as well as saving them in the password manager, and also make the most of an encrypted email account.
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