David Nield
Freelance Writer
Experience
David Nield is a technology journalist from Manchester in the U.K. who has been writing about gadgets and apps for more than 20 years.
He has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Durham University, where he also spent a term as editor of the award-winning student newspaper Palatinate. His journalism career started in print media, where he contributed to and edited several technology magazines and bookazines sold in the U.K. and internationally.
More recently, he has worked as a freelancer for some of the biggest technology publications on the web, covering everything from on-the-ground reporting about product launches, to detailed explainers and how-to guides on apps, gadgets, and platforms. His expertise covers broad areas of consumer tech, including smartphones, laptops, wearables, and AI.
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Key Takeaways
- Google is adding a new video selfie sign-in option for user accounts.
- You can use it for identity verification if you’re having trouble logging in.
- The feature seems to be available for some but not all users right now.
Table of Contents
Finding yourself locked out of your Google account for whatever reason is a stressful situation to be in—what with all your emails, documents, photos, and other data suddenly out of bounds—but there’s now a new way to prove your identity and regain access: a simple selfie video.
It’s always wise to have multiple sign-in methods set up, beyond the basic password and email address, as each additional one gives you a better chance of getting your account back if something goes wrong. The recovery contacts feature is a good example, where Google uses verified, trusted contacts of yours to prove your identity.
Now you can also use a selfie video. By following this link you can see if the feature is live for your account, and record your selfie via a webcam or phone camera. If you’re having trouble logging in, you’ll be able to record a new selfie, which will be compared against the original saved in your account.
At the moment, the selfie video option for my account isn’t available, so I couldn’t test it out. It seems this will be rolled out gradually to users, though Google hasn’t said anything specific about availability or a schedule—just that users can now check if their account is eligible.
“Your selfie video is yours and you’re in control,” says Google in its announcement blog post. “It is recorded and securely stored with your consent, and you can delete it at any time in your Google Account. It’s used only for helping you sign in, unless you opt to share it for additional purposes. Your selfie video is encrypted at rest, meaning it’s securely stored even when it’s not being used.”
Those “additional purposes” mean that Google will use your “video and related data to help ongoing efforts to develop and improve facial recognition, age estimation, and other verification methods that may use your physical features or movement” (the specter of age verification looms large again).
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