Tracking Gmail Account Usage

Google Mail introduced a new feature recently that can be helpful in finding out if someone else has or had access to your Gmail account. The function is a bit hidden in the footer area of Gmail after you log in. Just scroll down to the bottom until you reach the line at the bottom starting with Last account activity.

Gmail provides information about the time of the last login and which IP has been used to login to the account. A Details link is available at the end of the line which opens a popup window with further information.

Activity on this account is the name of the window and it displays the last five activities in a table with information about the access type (pop, mobile, browser), IP of the computer that logged into Gmail and the time.

The page does inform the user on concurrent activity as well and it is possible to sign out all other sessions which can be helpful in numerous cases. The current IP of the user is also displayed in that window making it easier to compare IPs.

This new feature is a great addition to Gmail to increase the security of the system. I would like to see an extensive history though, not only the last five logins but maybe those of the last three months or even year. Users who connect regularly will probably see only connection attempts of the same day in the history.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday July 10, 2008 -
Tags:Email, gmail, gmail security, Google, google-mail

Responses so far:

1. cyberbite says:

   July 12, 2008 at 2:56 am

   Nice feature, found!
   Thank you!!

   Reply
2. george b says:

   April 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm

   every time i start a gmail account it disappears a few weeks later

   Reply
3. Vinod says:

   December 24, 2010 at 7:53 pm

   Hi i am vinod

   Reply
4. Tuan.V.M says:

   June 16, 2011 at 6:16 pm

   I really love this feature of Gmail. A kind of log. However, it saves only 10 sessions. It would be much better if i could see a long list of sign-in-ed sessions.

   Reply