Last account activity
What is 'Last account activity'?
Last account activity shows you information about recent activity in your mail. Recent activity includes any time that your mail was accessed using a regular web browser, a POP1 client, a mobile device, etc. We'll list the IP address that accessed your mail, the associated location, as well as the time and date.
To see your account activity, click the Details link next to the Last account activity line at the bottom of any Gmail page.
How to understand this data
Access type
If you're concerned about unauthorized access to your mail, you'll be able to use the data in the 'Access type' column to find out if and when someone accessed your mail. For instance, if the column shows any POP access, but you don't use POP to collect your mail, it may be a sign that your account has been compromised.
Location (IP address)
In this column we list the last 10 IP addresses your mail was accessed from, and the associated locations.
If you received a warning about suspicious activity in your account, you might also see up to 3 IP addresses that have been labeled as suspicious as well as the 10 normal IP addresses. If you usually sign in to Gmail using a single computer, your IP address2 should be the same, or start with the same two sets of numbers (for example: 172.16.xx.xx). Each row in the table represents an event where someone accessed your mail or attempted to sign into your account using the correct password. If you see an IP address that is unfamiliar to you, we suggest you change your password immediately to secure your account against unauthorized access. Your current IP address is displayed below the table. In most cases, we guess the location by matching your IP address to a broad geographical location. The location and IP mappings might not always be accurate, especially in cases where the logins are old.
If you have POP3 or IMAP3 enabled, you'll see this in your recent activity table. If you're using Mail Fetcher with another Gmail account, a Google IP will appear; this is simply because the messages are being fetched through our servers. In addition, if you use a third party service with your Gmail service, such as social networking sites, we can't guarantee the security of the third party service. In this case, you might consider using forwarding if possible. If not, please make sure that your account recovery details are fully up to date.
In addition, if you access Gmail on a mobile device, your login history will contain mobile logins that may appear to come from your carrier’s mobile Internet gateway(s). Note that mobile gateways may be in a geographic location far from the area where you’re accessing your account. If the address belongs to your mobile provider, this is considered legitimate access to your account.
If you’d like to look up the Internet Service Provider that owns and leases and IP address, you may use a free IP reverse search service such as http://whois.domaintools.com/
If you'd like to find more information than what's provided in the 'Last account activity section', it's Google's policy to only provide information pursuant to a valid third party court order or other appropriate legal process.
Concurrent sessions
If your mail is currently being accessed from another location, we'll list the other session(s) in a 'Concurrent session information' table. If there are other sessions displayed, this could mean that you simply have another browser4 window open with Gmail loaded, or that you're sign in on another computer (for example, if your home computer is signed in to Gmail while you're accessing your mail from work.) If you're concerned about any concurrent access, you can sign out all sessions other than your current session by clicking Sign out all other sessions.
By putting up a warning, aren’t you just signaling to the bad guys that they’ve been caught?
We’ve designed the alert to only be displayed to users who have performed logins that we believe are legitimate. If we detect suspicious activity from a particular IP address, we won't show the alert to users coming from that IP address.
I'm receiving frequent alerts in my account. What does this mean?
If you're confident that you're seeing multiple alerts due to frequent traveling or mobile access, you are able to disable this alert from the last account activity details page.
If you're uncertain or you don't recognize the activity, this may be an indication that your account has been compromised via malware. Malware, also called badware, is malicious software that attempts to steal sensitive information from your computer, send spam, or commit fraud. This type of software is often bundled with other free downloads without your knowledge.
I think my account is compromised
If you think your account has been compromised, follow all the steps on the Gmail security checklist to secure your account.
If you'd like more information on account security, we suggest reading some tips on Keeping Your Data Secure.
Can I turn the Last Account Activity Alert off?
You can turn off Last Account Activity Alerts by changing your alert preferences underneath the recent activity table. Click change, next to Show an alert for unusual activity and you'll have the option to never show an alert for unusual activity. Keep in mind that we need about a week to disable this feature, to make sure the bad guys aren't the ones who turned off your alerts.
POP: POP (Post office protocol) is a one-way download of your messages that allows you to access your mail with a mail program like Outlook Express or Apple Mail. POP only offers one-way communication, which means that actions you take in the mail program (like marking a message as read) won’t be synced to Gmail.
IP address: An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a series of numbers that identifies a digital device such as your computer. They work like your home address--they allow data to arrive at the correct Internet location.
IMAP: IMAP (Internet message access protocol) lets you download messages from Gmail so you can access your mail with a program like Outlook Express or Apple Mail. IMAP syncs the actions you take in Outlook Express or Apple Mail with Gmail so if you read a message in your mail client, it'll be marked as read in Gmail.
browser: A browser is an application you can use to access the Internet and visit websites. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari are all examples of browsers.
