Comment by powerapple
3 years ago
This is the 6th month that I lost access to my gmail account because I forgot my password (I was forced to change it prior to that, and I changed my devices). I lost access to many services from McDonald reward program to bank account (which I can recover I think). I just think it is such a bad idea to use email for accounts. I have migrated to iCloud email because it has a reasonable recovery process I can trust. I think the default option for accounts should be phone numbers, anything else is not great.
Have you considered the use of a tool such as a password manager or book?
In the past I have been using iCloud to manage my passwords, but since gmail was my primary, I had the password for many years, I was able to remember it, didn't think it was necessary to use keep this particular account in iCloud. Then 2FA was introduced then forced on my account, I was also forced to change my password because Google was tightening its security (I don't remember exactly), I think that's when it went wrong. The funny thing with Google is that the recovery option should be my phone, somehow it is not enough for Google.
Now I would absolutely use a password manager.