How to find accounts linked to your email

We start accumulating accounts from the moment we first connect to the internet. It begins with an email address, followed by social media accounts, then college and job searching platforms, subscriptions, airline loyalty programs, online shops, and medical services—all will ask you to sign in. In addition to sending you spam later on, these accounts could leak sensitive information about you if they’re breached. 

To keep your personal information safe and private, we recommend you regularly run a thorough clean-up. In this guide, we provide detailed instructions on how to find accounts linked to email addresses, including those used just once and the long-forgotten ones. Let’s get started.

Dorota Martin

In short, here is how to find all accounts linked to your email address:

1. Find all accounts linked to your email account (Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook).
2. Find all accounts created with social sign-ins (from Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn).
3. Search your inbox for specific search terms and discover even more accounts.
4. Check your password manager to find more accounts.
5. Review your browsing history and saved passwords.
6. Go through all the apps on your phone.

To find accounts linked to your phone number, read our article here.

Find all accounts linked to your email account

Most, if not all, accounts you’ll ever create will call for your email address, so this is the most obvious place to start. Some email providers have the option of signing into an account directly via the email platform without the need for a new password. Here’s how to search for these online accounts.

Find all the accounts you created with Gmail

Gmail is the most popular email provider today. If you use a Gmail mailbox, you’ll inevitably have a Google account. The platform offers a convenient shortcut for sign-ins. Many websites and online shops allow you to “sign in with Google.” There is an easy way to review all the Google account connections created this way:

1. Open your Gmail account.
2. Click the square (the Google account button) next to your profile icon in the top-right corner. A menu with all Google products will appear.
3. Select “account” to access your account settings.
4. From the menu on the left-hand side, select “security.”
5. Scroll down to “your connections to third-party apps and services.”
6. Click on “see all connections” if there are more than three connections on the list.
7. A new page will appear with all your third-party apps and services.
8. Click on the arrow next to an account to review its third-party access and decide whether to keep the connection.
9. Every entry will take you to a new page, where you can click “see details” to check what sensitive info Google shares with them.
10. To delete third-party access, click the arrow next to “delete all connections you have with [account name]” and click “confirm.”

How to find accounts linked to your Yahoo mailbox

The procedure is similar if Yahoo is your email provider. You can browse through all the accounts linked to your email by following these steps:

1. Go to yahoo.com and sign in to your Yahoo account, or click on your profile icon and select “settings.”
2. Click “add or manage accounts.”
3. You will be taken to a new page. Click “account info.”
4. Once on your account settings page, select “recent activity” from the bar at the top of the screen.
5. Scroll down to “review your connected apps and devices.” This is where you will see your app and website connections, including all linked accounts.
6. To revoke access, click “remove” next to the specific app or website.

How to find accounts linked to your Outlook account

To discover accounts linked to your Outlook (previously Hotmail) account, you’ll have to navigate through Microsoft’s privacy settings, as Microsoft owns and manages Outlook. Follow these simple steps:

1. Go to outlook.com and log in.
2. Click the profile icon in the upper-right corner and click “my profile” to access your account page.
3. Click “privacy” on the menu bar at the top of the screen.
4. Scroll down to find “more privacy settings.”
5. Look for the “apps and services” section and click “view app access details.”
6. Review the list of websites and applications with access to your Outlook account.
7. If you want to revoke permissions for a particular app or website, click “edit” next to its name and choose “remove these permissions.”

How to find accounts created with social sign-ins

Many websites and shops allow users to create an account with their social media accounts. If you have ever used the “sign in with Facebook” or “log in with LinkedIn” option, then you know what we mean. Here’s how to find social sign-ins and revoke access to these accounts.

How to find accounts you created with Facebook

If you use Facebook to create online accounts, you can find and review them in one place. 

Follow these steps to access it:

1. Log in to your Facebook account.
2. Click on your profile icon in the top-right or top-left (on mobile) corner.
3. Select “settings and privacy” from the drop-down menu and then “settings.”
4. You will be taken to the privacy settings page.
5. Scroll down the menu on the left-hand side and click “apps and websites” under the “your activity” section.
6. This is where you’ll see all the apps and websites you connected to with Facebook.
7. To remove access, click “remove.”
8. Make sure to review “removed apps and websites” as well.

How to find accounts associated with your X (Twitter) account

X (formerly Twitter) is another social media account you might’ve used to sign in to online accounts. Follow these steps to find out if there are any accounts linked to your X profile:

1. Open the X app and sign in.
2. Select “settings and privacy.”
3. Go to “security and account access.”
4. Select “apps and sessions.”
5. Tap “connected apps” to see apps connected with X/Twitter and remove access.
6. Go back to “security and account access” and select “connected accounts” to see the social accounts you connected to your X or Twitter account.

How to find accounts linked to your Instagram account 

To find all the websites and applications connected to your Instagram account, follow these steps:

1. Open your Instagram app and connect.
2. Tap or click your profile icon at the screen’s bottom-right corner or top-right corner if you use the desktop app.
3. Next, tap on the three horizontal lines at the top-right corner to open the menu, where it says “more.”
4. Select “settings” from the menu at the top.
5. Find the “apps and websites” tab.
6. In this section, you will find a list of apps and websites that have been granted access to your Instagram account through social sign-ins.

How to find accounts linked to your LinkedIn account

Many online accounts allow you to use LinkedIn to sign in. To find them, log in to your LinkedIn profile and follow these steps:

1. Click on your profile icon and select “settings and privacy” from the drop-down menu.
2. In the data privacy tab, scroll down to “other applications” and select “permitted services.”
3. All your connected accounts will be listed here.

How to find remaining accounts linked to your email

Finding all your accounts may require more effort than logging into the relevant social media accounts. You’ve probably created numerous accounts for online shops, subscription services, and job applications with your email, and it’s possible that you only remember some of them. The following tips should help you locate the rest.

Search your mailbox

Several moderately annoying emails will inevitably land in your inbox whenever you create a new account. One is to confirm your email address, one to welcome you, another to thank you for your purchase, and so on. Search your mailbox for these frequently used subject lines to find and delete them:

• Thank you for your order / purchase!
• Your order is on its way!
• You’re booked; here’s the confirmation.
• Time to pack your bags!
• Let’s get you started!
• Welcome! Your registration details are here.
• Thank you for signing up!
• Welcome to the [COMPANY NAME] newsletter!
• Ready to start? Please confirm here.
• We received your message!
• Thank you for contacting [COMPANY NAME].
• We’re sad to see you go.
• Confirm your cancellation request.
• We will miss you!
• Please verify your email address.
• Please verify your account.

Check your password manager

If you use a secure password manager, you likely saved logins and passwords to some of your online accounts there. Use the search bar of your password manager, or scroll through the list and delete the accounts you no longer need. 

Go through your browser history and saved passwords

Depending on how often you erase your search history, you may find additional clues to accounts created in the past there. Go through your search history and check the passwords saved to your browser to discover more linked accounts.

Go through the apps on your phone

Many apps require account registration, and by looking through your installed apps, you might recall some platforms you previously signed up for. Additionally, you can manage your previously downloaded apps to check the ones you no longer use or ones that are not easily visible.

To review all apps on your iPhone:

1. Open the settings app.
2. Tap “general.”
3. Go to “iPhone storage.”
4. To sort your apps, tap the blue filter above the list of all apps and select from one of the options
5. Review the list and delete the apps you don’t need.

To do the same on Android:

1. Open the settings app.
2. Tap “apps.”
3. You can sort the list of apps by tapping the three dots in the top-right corner and selecting “sort by.” 
4. Review your apps here.
5. To delete apps, click “OK” when prompted.

Once you’re done

Finding accounts linked to your email has likely taken you an hour or two, and we assume it wasn’t fun. To avoid it in the future, try to be more mindful when creating accounts and fill out only the strictly necessary information on the sign-up form. Consider using a disposable email address for the accounts you expect to use only once or delete accounts as soon as you don’t need them anymore.

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