Notifications

Notifications is how your account tells you that something happened to it. It has an inbox of security events, a settings tab for email, and a set of alert emails that go to your verified addresses. Its purpose is to let you spot a change you did not make while it can still be undone.

It is for every account owner. You do not need to check it daily, but you do need at least one verified address that you read, because the emails are the part that reaches you when you are not looking at the account.

Every important change produces two things. One is an entry in the inbox, which you see when you open the account. The other is an email to every verified address on the account, which reaches you wherever you read mail. A sign-in from a device the account had not seen produces a third thing, an email with a decision in it: it was me, or it was not.

event on your account ->  Inbox entry   (Routine, Review or Review now)                      ->  security email to every verified address                      ->  new device? a Was this you? page to answer

The inbox shows a chosen set of security events. For everything the platform recorded, including sign-ins and sign-outs, use Activity.

I got an email about a sign-in I do not recognise.

1. Sign-in alert emails: what the new sign-in alert says and what each choice does.
2. Sessions: sign that session out.
3. If you think your account was taken over: the checklist if it was not you.

I want to know what changed on my account.

1. The security feed: read events newest first and open one.
2. Activity: the wider record of the last 90 days.

I want fewer emails.

1. Email preferences: switch the two optional emails.
2. Email preferences: see why security alerts cannot be switched off.

The security feed answers where events appear, what the Review and Review now badges mean, where each kind of event opens, how long events stay and how they load, how to mark events read, and what the bell in the top bar shows. It also says what to do when you see an event you did not cause.

Email preferences answers which emails are always sent and which two are optional. The Settings tab lists Security alerts as always on, and Product updates and Marketing email as switches. It states that security alerts go to every verified address, and that the optional switches only record a choice today.

Sign-in alert emails answers what each email says: account change alerts with the subject Security alert, and the new sign-in alert. It explains the Was this you page, the related Confirm this sign-in page, and what to do when a link does not work.

You need a verified email address. An address you added but did not verify receives nothing. Adding a second verified address means a change made by someone with access to only one mailbox is still visible in the other. See Email addresses.

Can I turn off security alerts? No. They are always on. See Email preferences.

Do alerts go to my primary address only? No, to every verified address. See Email preferences.

What does Review now mean? Act now if you did not do it, for example when a passkey was removed. See The security feed.

How can I tell a real alert from a fake one? See Recognising a phishing email.

What does each alert email mean? See What a security alert email means.

It does not describe how the platform decides a sign-in is unfamiliar, which this book leaves out on purpose. It does not cover the sign-in screens that follow an alert, which are in The sign-in alert email and Confirm a new browser or place. It does not cover push or text notifications, because email is the only channel.