A lot of Android users have a Gmail or Google account. Some people use it for professional or personal purposes. One will rarely find anyone who doesn’t have a Google account as you need one to log in to access Google Play and other services. Several people rely on apps like Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail to store their personal data. So, losing your Google id could cost you huge. This is why it is important to add additional security to your Google account. Now, you might be wondering how this is related to creating a secondary account.

How can a secondary Google account be useful?

We believe users should have an alternate Google account, which will help them recover their existing account in case it gets hacked or they forget the password/username or verification codes. While there are several ways to recover your Google account, it is also important to take extra steps to protect your account.

The search giant gives you two options in the recovery section to regain access to your account and that is phone number and an alternate email address. You might have added your phone number, but you can create a new Google account and add that. If you have any other email id, then that is a different thing. Still, there are benefits of having a secondary Google account, which we will talk about later in this article. Let’s first take a look at how you can add an alternate email address to your existing Gmail account as a recovery option.

Step 1: Just open your Android smartphone and head to the Settings section > Google.

Step 2: Now, tap on “Manage your Google account” and swipe left until you find the “Security” tab.

Step 3: Scroll down and find the recovery section. It will be under the “Ways we can verify it’s you” section. You can then add your alternate email address.

This way, if your account gets hacked, then you can immediately recover it using your second Google account. This feature will come in handy in case your registered phone number doesn’t have a network or you are not getting verification codes for some reason. Also, no one can change your second email id as the person will require a password for that.

Not convinced? Here’s why creating a secondary Google account is worth it?

It takes less than a minute to create a Google account and you get 15GB of free cloud storage space on your smartphone. As this won’t be your primary account, you can use this to store your photos and other files. However, note that you can’t just back up your personal data and never use the account. If this happens, then your account will get deleted.

Google can detect if your account remains inactive for a long period. But, your account will be considered active if you are backing up content on a daily basis. You can change the auto-backup option in the app’s settings section. You can also use the secondary to log in to services like Zomato, Swiggy and more.