Happy birthday, My Account. Just one year ago today (it feels like we’ve had this interface for so much longer) Google announced their new account management hub My Account as a one stop shop for complete control and management of every facet of your Google account, from location tracking to security to photo sharing and so much more.
What birthday celebration would be complete without gifts? To celebrate the 1-year miles stone Google has announced a few new features.
Find my phone
For a long while name you’ve been able to do a Google search for “find my phone” and it would bring up an interface with all of your Android devices, and from there allow you to ring, lock or wipe your device. Today’s update will also let you search for “I lost my phone” to start the process.
Additionally, they have added a few more quick options to the feature, you will now have options for:
- Lock your phone
- Try calling your phone
- Signout on your phone
- Get in touch with your operator
- Get in touch for local help
- Consider erasing your device
Both the new interface and the search term are working for us now on both PC and mobile.
Voice access
Are you amongst those who ofter utter “Ok Google”, if so then you can now automatically open My Account simply by asking, “OK Google, show me my Google account”. That’s it, simple.
You can try it today, in English only for now.
Search your name
Are you sick of Googling yourself and getting back nothing useful? Well, this latest update may just be what you’ve been looking for. Rolling out soon when you search for your name you will be given a link to jump straight into your My Account page.
If we’re honest none of these new features would fit into the major update category, in fact for people already familiar with Mt Account and Find my phone there’s not a lot here for you. However, these updates feel more about letting more people know about My Account and making easier for those less familiar to find it either intentionally or unintentionally, and that’s a good thing.
The My account service does allow users to take a lot of control over their Google account, it’s security, privacy and sharing settings amongst many more options. In a world where other social or personal service networks don;t make it as easy to find, monitor or change these settings its good to see Google make their settings even easier to find for everyone.
Have you checked your Google account with My Account lately? If not your should, afterall it’s your account.
