11 July 2019

6 Ways to Find All Accounts Linked to Your Email Address or Phone Number


find-linked-accounts

From the dial-up days till now, most of us have signed up for a countless number of online accounts. But we barely log in to even half of them today. Now, the email address or a phone number you surrendered for registration can be misused. It’s time to ask yourself—“How do I find all accounts linked to my email address?”

It’s best to revisit all your accounts to update your credentials or deactivate them. Here are a bunch of ways you can use to find all accounts linked to your email address or phone number.

1. Find Accounts Linked to Email

Google third-party account access settings

If you often sign into apps and websites through the email platform’s quick authorization button, the chances are you won’t have to dig too deep at least to review your most recently created accounts.

For the profiles you’ve generated by employing options such as “Sign Up With Google”, you can simply head over to your email’s security settings. There, you can go through the list of connected apps to edit or revoke their access.

To visit this section on Google, go to the My Account dashboard and click the Security tab present on the left. Scroll till you come across “Third-party apps with account access” and hit Manage Third-Party Access. You can then tap individual apps to disconnect them from your email account.

You should consider strengthening your online security once you have got rid of unwanted third-party apps. For that, take a look at how you can improve your online security and privacy.

2. Find Social Sign-Ins With Facebook and Twitter

Facebook third-party app access settings

Evaluate the apps and websites you’ve logged into using your social media accounts. The stakes are even higher when you attach third-party services to your social profile. Depending on the permissions, you run the risk of handing over the key to your friends’ list, personal details, cell number, and other private details.

Thankfully on platforms like Facebook, you can specifically decide what you want to share or cut off. For instance, you can retain a third party account but disable its access to the pages you like on Facebook.

  • On Facebook, go to Settings > Apps and Websites.
  • On Twitter, head over to Settings > Account > Apps and Sessions.

3. Search Your Inbox for Account Verification Messages

Gmail search with subject operator

The two methods above will only take you only so far. For a thorough check, you will need to return to your email and hunt down the confirmation emails in your inbox. Search for common subject lines these services send you whenever you register for a new account.

Also, you can use Gmail’s search operators and keywords for filtering specific subject lines.

For instance, you can enter “subject: verify” to fetch all the emails with subject lines containing the word “verify”. This will allow you to discover roughly every app you’ve linked to your email address.

You can also automate this task with a tool like EmailExport. The website can comb through your emails with more powerful filters and then organize the results in a spreadsheet. The service is not free but it can save you a lot of time.

But here’s a note of caution. As EmailExport will have the permission to read your inbox, you will be risking your personal data. EmailExport is free for the first hundred messages but once that quota expires, you will have to pay at least $5 for 250 emails.

4. Instantly Check All Accounts Linked to Your Email

Remove and search all your online accounts with Deseat

Deseat is another effective method on this list if you are looking for ways to find all accounts linked to an email address for free. The web app indexes your inbox and siphons off all the third-party apps you’ve signed up with that email address. It then presents you with a list so that you can easily decide the action you want to take.

Deseat also adds a Request Removal button. Clicking this will enable you to email the associated company a pre-written data removal request.

Like EmailExport, Deseat can be a security threat too for sensitive emails. The developers explicitly say they don’t harvest your emails and all sorting operations are performed locally.

They have given the option to delete your Deseat account. For now, Deseat is free and supports the majority of email platforms.

5. Find All Online Accounts With a Username

Check usernames across multiple websites with Namechk

If there’s a username you often enter for new accounts, you can tap into Namechk. The domain finder and username checker tool will scan for a username’s availability across dozens of platforms. Just type in your most commonly utilized ID at the top and Namechk will tell you if it has been taken.

Namechk plugs into a host of services such as Instagram, PayPal, Imgur, Foursquare, and Venmo. Namechk is a free utility and doesn’t cost a dime.

6. Check Your Browser’s Saved Accounts

Google Chrome password manager

Whenever you fill a form field on the internet, your browser caches your input. It’s a time saver as you don’t have to manually type that detail next time. This applies to email addresses and optionally, passwords too.

So, you can visit your browser’s settings and go through the list to find out any accounts you may have forgotten about. Do note that your success will depend on how long you’ve been using the browser. You can repeat this process for every browser you’ve installed in the past.

  • On Google Chrome, the option is present under Settings > Auto-fill > Passwords. You can browse the entries, update them, and delete if you don’t want them in your browser since it’s usually not safe.
  • On Mozilla Firefox users need to go inside Settings > Privacy & Security > Login and Passwords > Saved Logins.

Sort Your Online Accounts With a Password Manager

It’s unlikely you would be able to locate every online account you’ve ever created. But with these solutions, you can unearth the majority of them.

Once you have done that, it’s best to migrate them to a password manager and regularly use it to effortlessly keep tabs on your online presence. Here are the best password managers for every occasion.

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