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I recently demonstrated how to manage apps connected to Google Drive (and why you should). I showed how it's important to regularly comb through the apps with access, to weed out those apps that are no longer in use, no longer available, or no longer trusted.

While that recent how-to guide applied to Google Drive, you might not be aware that every time you use your Google account to log in to a service, that service (or app) has access to your account. And you could wind up with apps you no longer use having permission to access various aspects of your account.

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It's hard to know if those old apps are either no longer available or are still under the control of a trustworthy organization. But you don't want to leave anything to chance, so the best advice is to revoke access to those apps you either no longer use or no longer trust.

Fortunately, Google makes it fairly simple to manage access to your account. Let me show you how it's done.

How to revoke access to your account

What you'll need:The only things you'll need for this are a valid Google account and some apps that have been given access to your account. That's it. Let's cull the herd.

1. Log in to your Google account

Given you're reading this in a web browser, you've already taken care of the first step. 

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From that browser, log in to your Google account and point that browser to myaccount.google.com.

2. Open the Security section

From the My Account page, click Security in the left sidebar.

You'll find what you're looking for in the Security section.

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3. Manage third-party access

From the Security page, scroll down until you see Third-party apps with account access. From that section, click Manage third-party access.

This is where you'll find the listing of third-party apps that have access to your account.

Jack Wallen/

4. Locate the app in question

You should now see a complete listing of all the apps that have access to your Google account. Scroll through that list until you find the app you want to remove.

I have plenty of apps that need their access revoked.

Jack Wallen/

5. Revoke access

Once you've located the app in question, click its entry and then click Remove Access in the top right corner of the entry. 

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You will then be prompted to verify the removal by clicking OK in the resulting popup.

Revoking access to the Calendly service.

Jack Wallen/

It'll take a second or two for Google to revoke access to the app or service. Once the popup goes away, you've successfully ousted the app from your account.

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And that's all there is to it. Make sure to go through the entire list (it could be lengthy) and remove every app you no longer use from having access to your account. This is certainly one of those cases where you're better off safe than sorry.

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