Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

How to change your default Google account

Here's how to do it in a few clicks and why it might be useful.
By
August 28, 2023

When signed into multiple Google accounts, you will notice that one of them is marked as Default. But what if you no longer want that particular account to be the default one? How do you switch to another default account in Google?

QUICK ANSWER

Sign out of all your Google accounts, including the account currently marked as Default. Now, sign into the account you want to designate as your default account. Once you have signed in, it will be marked as Default, and you can now sign into the others.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

What is a default Google account?

Google Pixel 5 on a table with full Google logo with two lego figurines
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

The default account is the first Google account you signed into on that browser. The default account determines what account you are automatically signed into when you visit a Google-owned service, such as YouTube or Google Drive. So if you’re constantly being signed into the wrong account, it’s time to switch default accounts.

How to change the default Google account (desktop)

Go to any Google-owned website, such as Gmail, and click on your profile photo in the top right-hand corner. This will show you all the Google accounts you are currently logged in to, including the default one.

google account list
Mark O'Neill / Android Authority

At the bottom of that box is a Sign out of all accounts button. Click that to sign out of all your accounts. Now sign into the account you want to make the default. Once you’re signed in, it should show as default in your account list. You can then sign in to your other accounts if you wish.

How to change the default Google account (Android)

remove gmail android
Mark O'Neill / Android Authority

Changing the default account on your phone is even more straightforward. All you have to do is go into your phone settings and remove all of the logged-in Google accounts except for the one you want to make default. When the other accounts are removed, the one remaining is “promoted” to default.


FAQs

There’s no limit to the number of Google accounts you can sign up for. But you can only have one default account.

All settings, such as your bookmarks and browsing history, are unique to that Google account. So if you change default Google accounts, your settings will be stored in the former default account, and you will have new settings in the new default account.

No, any changes are device-specific. So you need to change it on each device.