Important: Selfie video is not available for all regions, accounts, or devices.
You can use a short video of yourself to:
- Help you get back into your account if you can't sign in.
- Unlock more features or services, when prompted, by verifying you're a real person and you haven't violated Google’s policies.
- Make an avatar to create AI content that looks and sounds like you. Learn how to create, use, and manage your avatar.
Add a selfie video for sign-in
You must have a selfie video set up in your Google Account to use it in recovery. This is an alternative to traditional recovery factors, like recovery email or phone.
Important:
- You can’t add a selfie video while you’re locked out of your account or in the account recovery process.
- Google Workspace accounts, Child accounts, and Google Accounts enrolled in the Advanced Protection Program can't add selfie videos at this time.
To add a selfie video to your Google Account:
- Go to your Google Account.
- You might need to sign in.
- Tap Security & sign-in.
- Under "How you sign in to Google," tap Selfie video.
- On the "Add selfie for sign-in" page, tap Continue.
- Follow the steps on the screen.
- If your computer has a camera, proceed with the selfie video verification. If not, you'll get a QR code to verify on another device.
- If you get a "Camera unavailable" error, your Chrome browser might be out of date. To fix it, update Chrome and try again.
Tips for taking a selfie video
When you take a selfie video, make sure:
- You're connected to Wi-Fi or cellular service and have allowed camera access on your device or browser.
- Your eyes, nose, and mouth are visible.
- Remove sunglasses, masks, or hats.
- There are no people or images of faces in your background.
Sign in to your Google Account with a selfie video
If you can't sign in to your account, you may get a prompt to record a short video of your face to confirm the account belongs to you. This video will require you to perform a specific action like turning your head.
The new video will then be compared to the selfie video you previously added to your Google Account. If the faces match, your identity will be verified. This will allow you to regain access to your account.
Refer to the "Tips for taking a selfie video" section for general guidance when recording your video.
Tip: The selfie video you saved on your Google Account will be matched against the selfie video you take to sign in to your account. If there are significant changes to your facial appearance, update the selfie video you've saved on your account.
Unlock features and services with a selfie video
To help keep you and others safe online, you may need to complete additional steps to unlock access to certain features or services. This extra confirmation helps us verify the account wasn't created or used by computer programs or bots for the purpose of abuse, like spamming.
Important: To take a selfie, you'll need to be signed in to your account on a phone or tablet with a Camera app. Your device must be connected to Wi-Fi or cellular service.
To take a selfie video to unlock access:
- When a pop-up appears, to proceed, tap Continue.
- Follow the instructions on your screen.
- After following the prompts, you'll need to bring your face back to the center.
Unlocking your access may take a few seconds. When the loading page closes, or the loading bar stops, your access is unlocked.
If you're not automatically redirected, you'll need to return to the feature or service to access it.
Refer to the “Tips for taking a selfie video” section for general guidance when recording your video.
Delete a selfie video from your Google Account
Important:
- If you delete your selfie video that you added to your account, you will no longer be able to use it to sign in.
- If you delete a selfie video that you took to unlock access to certain services and features, you may lose access to them.
To delete a selfie video:
- In your Google Account, go to the Selfie video page.
- You might need to sign in.
- Next to the selfie video you want to delete, tap Delete.
- Your selfie video will be deleted from your Google Account after a period of time. We may keep it for a little while as a security measure.
- If you’ve violated a Google policy, we may save your selfie video for a longer period of time to enforce our policies.
Manage your optional selfie setting to improve Google services
When you submit a selfie video to sign in to your account or to access additional services or features, you have the option to allow Google to 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.
If you previously selected this option and later change your mind, you can revoke this permission at any time. If you didn't select this option when you submitted your selfie video and would like to help improve Google services, you can turn this setting on in your Google Account.
To change this setting:
- In your Google Account, go to the Selfie video page.
- Turn Improve Google services (optional) on or off.
