"Sign in with Google" or Apple —
When to Use It
Published October 2026 · Last verified October 2026
Those 'Sign in with Google' and 'Sign in with Apple' buttons let you into a new website without making yet another password. They're genuinely useful and often safer than a weak password — but they come with a few trade-offs worth understanding. Here's what they do, when to use one, and how to see and undo the connections you've made.
Those 'Sign in with Google' and 'Sign in with Apple' buttons let you into a new website without making yet another password. They're genuinely useful and often safer than a weak password — but they come with a few trade-offs worth understanding. Here's what they do, when to use one, and how to see and undo the connections you've made.
What's inside this guide
The printable PDF walks through 29 short chapters, in plain language. It also includes an everyday cheat sheet, a plain-English word list and at-a-glance pictures.
- What these buttons actually do
- Why they can be safer than a new password
- The convenience, plainly
- The trade-offs to weigh
- Apple's Hide My Email
- A closer look at 'Sign in with Google'
- A closer look at 'Sign in with Apple'
- A cautious word on 'Sign in with Facebook'
- What happens if you lose the main account
- Privacy: what actually gets shared
- When to use the button
- When to make a separate account instead
- Seeing which apps you've connected to Google
- Seeing connected apps on Apple and Facebook
- How to disconnect a site safely
- Switching a site from the button to your own password
- Protect the account behind the button
- How two-factor carries over
- Scams that imitate the sign-in buttons
- Helping a spouse or parent decide
- A simple rule of thumb
- A once-a-year tidy-up
- Guest computers and shared devices
- What the button can't do
- The buttons and your password manager
- Reading the approval screen
- On your phone versus your computer
- Putting it all together
- Frequently asked questions
Get the printable guide
Everything above is a quick summary. The full, printable guide — the same words, laid out to read and keep by the computer — is a free PDF.
Last verified October 2026. Information accurate as of October 25, 2026.
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