Why I don’t keep all my digital eggs in the Google basket

google has built a large number of services, all accessible through a single account. In fact, with a few exceptions here and there (YouTube, Google Search, Google Maps), you can’t use most of the company’s core services without creating an account in the first place.

It goes without saying that it is very convenient to have all these services under one roof. However, I have never felt 100% comfortable with one Google account for everything. Let me tell you why and what I’m doing about it.

I’m sure it’s an irrational fear, but I’ve always had a latent concern about the possibility of something happening to my Google account. Whether it’s my account being hacked or Google shutting it down for some reason, I realized very early on that a huge chunk of my digital life would be lost if my Google account was no longer accessible.

That would mean no more Gmail inbox, Play Store purchases, YouTube profile, Google Chrome browsing data, Drive files, YouTube Music, and Google Photos backups. So basically I’d have to start my digital presence from scratch if I were to get fully involved in the Mountain View giant’s services.

These fears aren’t exactly unfounded, though, as Google’s algorithm-based approach to enforcement means errors aren’t uncommon and people sometimes get their accounts banned for no reason.

There are instances where Google takes a heavy-handed approach to bans when they appear to be to blame, such as: one Redditor discovered it in 2018. The user had sent devices back to Google, but the company charged his account anyway. When they decided to dispute the transaction and issue a chargeback to their bank (after apparently contacting the company multiple times), Google banned them.

We’ve even seen some glaring examples of Google accounts not directly related to terms of service violations. For example, the company reportedly forbidden the personal account of the mobile game developer Ali Nadalizadeh and the business account associated with his mobile game studio Raya Games. This errant ban came months after a former developer at Raya Games banned his personal account in the first place. Nadalizadeh said his request to appeal the ban was denied, but Google reinstated the falsely banned accounts after the story went viral on Reddit.

Likewise Google dishonest banned users for emote spam during YouTuber Markiplier’s stream in November 2019, despite the host explicitly encouraging it. And these bans applied to the users’ entire Google accounts rather than their YouTube profiles.

That’s the downside of having all of these Google services tied to one account: getting banned by Google on one service also applies to the rest of its services.

Hacking is also another ever-present concern, given the cat-and-mouse nature of digital security.

Another event late last year also reinforced my feeling that I should have more alternatives on tap. My original email account (via a long-running local South African service), which I’ve had for over 15 years, was inexplicably shut down at the end of the year. I wasn’t the only one either, because it turns out that a Couple of other people reported that their accounts no longer existed.

Thankfully, I had steadily migrated away from this account over the years, and it wasn’t a global email service to begin with. Nevertheless, my predominant thought was, “What if the same thing happened to my Google account?” I’ve seen enough Google services die at this point that I know nothing is impossible.

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While I still use a lot of Google services, I’ve embraced alternatives as long as I’ve been using smartphones. After all, it’s important to have viable challengers to Google because it creates competition in the space and forces everyone to get better. Microsoft’s OneDrive and Outlook are quite useful in this regard, while I also use ecosia more often for my web searches on mobile.

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My primary desktop browser is actually Opera too. Yes, yes, Edge is a better alternative these days, but Opera is a holdover from the days when I had a budget laptop and Google Chrome may have been an even bigger RAM hog than it is today. I still use Chrome on my phone, but I’m also spending more and more time with the excellent Kiwi browser because of its support for Chrome extensions.

It may sound like I should just drop Google altogether, but I’m not ready to take the deGoogled route just yet. I enjoy using the company’s services and am especially aware of the privacy compromises. It’s also just incredibly convenient to have one account for all Google services.

Besides simply using alternative services and thus putting your digital eggs in more baskets, there are a few other measures you can take to protect your Google account.

For starters, you can take sensible precautions, such as using two-step verification for your various accounts. This gives your account an extra layer of protection, requiring attackers to have your phone to access your Google account.

The next step would be to avoid using Google’s built-in password manager. Since all of your account information is stored with Google, anyone with access to your account can technically sign in to many of your other services as well. You would also be banned from any non-Google service if you lost access to your Google account and lost your credentials. An external manager such as LastPass or 1Password is a sensible precaution as it relies entirely on a separate account and master password.

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Another tip is to set up automatic email forwarding from your Gmail inbox to another email provider. You can also make sure to keep your work and personal information separate as much as possible. This can be accomplished by using different Google accounts for business and personal use, and then setting up personal and work profiles in Chrome, separating your browsing and work/home credentials. This should help a great deal if an account is compromised.

Also consider backing up your data regularly, locally or to other services. For example, you need to back up your Google Photos and Google Drive content to another cloud storage service or to an external hard drive. You may want to do the same for YouTube and YouTube Music if you have content on those services. Using Google Takeout can help you get a downloadable version of all your data.

Either way, the chances of your Google account being shut down or compromised are low, but never zero. Personally, it doesn’t hurt me to have fallback options if this ever happens. It doesn’t hurt that my restrictions have the advantage of occasionally discovering more services and apps that I might prefer over Google’s.

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