Security‑minded readers can’t quit this convenient Google feature

Constantly signing in to websites and apps is a huge inconvenience, even when you employ a password manager, as I do. That’s why the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, and Google offer consumers a sign-in feature that utilizes their credentials on these sites instead. For many, having these options available makes it far easier to log in to sites regularly. Additionally, since they use a single set of credentials, there’s no need to memorize or store tens of password/username combos, decreasing the risk of forgetting them. Clearly, “Sign in with Google” has its advantages, but it also comes with risks, as my colleague Rita El Khoury outlines in this extensive explainer.

Given these pros and cons, how many of our readers utilize Sign in with Google? Well, we really wanted to know, so we ran a poll on Rita’s article. More than 11,000 votes later, the data is now in.

The bulk of respondents still use the service either “everywhere” (42.5%) or “sometimes,” with a combination of standalone logins (39.5%). Combined, that means more than four in every five readers who voted use Sign in with Google for at least one login. That’s huge.

Look, even I use Sign in with Google, and in reality, I’m likely voting with the “sometimes” camp. However, putting all your “digital eggs in the Google basket,” as Rita puts it, is a significant security and access risk. If you should ever lose access to your Google account, you’d no longer have access to these websites. That being said, I have no problem using Sign in with Google for a select number of unimportant accounts. Sometimes convenience trumps absolute security.

It’s worth noting that Sign in with Google isn’t the only authentication method. Much of the criticism of Google’s version could be levied against its ilk, such as Microsoft. Here’s reader netmeetme’s experience using the latter: “I had all my stuff set up on Hotmail. I lost access, so what is the difference?”

As commenter Keith admits, using Sign in with Google isn’t always a conscious thought:

I’m gonna admit to a certain amount of ignorance. I’ve utilized that shortcut on more than a few occasions. But doing a sort of mental inventory, the apps I use the most are most definitely ones I used my primary email for (not Google).

So what about users on the other side of the fence? Well, 6.9% of readers have “pivoted everything to a standalone login” after using Google’s system, while 11.1% said that they “never” used it in the past and won’t begin anytime soon.

Whether you decide to lean on it entirely or spread risk across multiple logins, it’s fair to say that Google’s single sign-in mechanism is hugely popular among our readers.

Where do you stand in this regard? Do you go all-in with Google, use multiple logins, or something else entirely? Let’s continue the discussion below.