How to See My Gmail Password Once I Am Logged In

So you've forgotten your Gmail password for whatever reason – maybe you misplaced it, or it was too complex to remember, or you just have too many other passwords to remember, and now it has slipped your mind. Still, that's OK, matter, because you should be able to check it out – you're still logged into your account, after all, right?
Well, no . There is some bad news for you, and there is some good news for you.

You Can’t See Your Google Password Even If You’re Logged In

The bad news is that there is no way to just extract your Gmail login password, even if you are currently logged into your account. Gmail doesn't store passwords in plain text so that it can provide its users with said information at will. These passwords only exist in an encrypted form, and can't really be accessed by anyone – not users, nor Google employees, managers or even executives. That's just how the system works – once you've lost your password, it's gone for good.

However, DON'T PANIC! Because what you can do is:

Recover Your Lost Gmail Password

Seeing as how as of 2017 Gmail had more than 1.3 BILLION users employing the platform for private, as well as public and business related purposes, it's not difficult to see why Google would take major steps to make absolutely sure that people don't get accidentally locked out of their accounts. There are multiple methods to recover your Gmail password that you should be able to use to quickly regain control of your account.

Password Recovery method 1 – Try an older password

Gmail stores all the passwords you have ever employed. If for whatever reason, you can't remember the most recent key to your account, the first and foremost method is for you to submit an older password. This practice guarantees that as long as you can recall any single one of your outdated passwords, you can attempt to regain access to your account.

Password Recovery Method 2 – SMS or Phonecall

If you can't recall any one of your old passwords, the next best and most expedient option for recovering your Gmail password is for you to request a confirmation code via SMS or a phone call. Inputting a phone number so that Google can contact you in similar circumstances has been a necessary step for creating a Gmail account for quite some time now. With the way the system is currently set up, users that absolutely can't recall their past passwords have the option to receive a verification code via SMS, or via an automated phone call, depending on their own personal preference. Once you receive this code, you can input it when asked, and receive immediate access to the otherwise inaccessible Gmail account that is associated with the particular phone number.

Password Recovery Method 3 – Alternative Email

Even if for some reason you don't have access to your phone, you are still not out of options. When you create a Gmail account, you are asked to provide a valid alternative email. This is not just random tedium, created for the sole purpose of annoying users and collecting information on them – if you have taken the time to do so, you can easily request that a new password is automatically messaged to the alternative email address, where you can recover it at your leisure. Once you have access to your new password, recovering full access to your Gmail account becomes a trivial matter.

Password Recovery Method – Via Date Of Creation

In case you are unable to, or can't be bothered to recover your password in another way, Gmail has been set up to allow you to use a final recovery option. All you will need to do is input some basic information about your Gmail account – namely, the approximate date around which the account was created. This guarantees that you should have no problem with recovering lost Gmail accounts, as long as you have even the vaguest idea of when you made your Gmail account. If you're currently logged into the said account, that should not be too difficult – just look at the first email you received, it was probably an automated message from Google welcoming you to the platform, or another message sent or received sometime around the date on which you created that particular account. If you are logged off and don't remember that minor detail – there are plenty of ways to estimate it. You can, for instance, ask a colleague or family member for the time stamp of the earliest instance in which you messaged them from that account – that may well be enough.

In Conclusion

There are plenty of quick, easy and accessible methods you can use to reliably recover a lost Gmail password. Thins being the case, you don't really need to be able to see your own password. If you're uncertain about which one you used – just try it out, and if it turns out that you can't remember it – just proceed with any of the steps given above to almost effortlessly receive a new one. Just input one piece of the necessary information that you gave up while registering for the service or at some point after that and you should be able to recover access to your account without a fuss.

However, if you didn't provide a phone number, a valid email address, and absolutely can't remember a previous password or the approximate date when you created your account, you're out of luck. Even if you're currently logged into the said account, there's no way to see your current password, so you'd better try something else, like an attempt to recover a means to access your account based on the approximate date of its creation.

Alternatively, you can always try to contact the Google support team directly and try to provide the employee with reasonable evidence that the account you are trying to access really belongs to you. Google tends to be quick to respond and very helpful in that respect, which this means that recovering access to your Gmail account this way is not out of the question. However, do keep in mind that no one at Google has direct access to the text of your old password, and this option may not be entirely reliable.