Manage Your Gmail Inbox Without Your Google Account in Chrome
Even after removing your Google account from Chrome, you might still want to manage your Gmail inbox. Fortunately, there are options that allow you to do this without needing to log into your Google account in Chrome or install the Gmail app on your desktop.
One such solution is Clean Email. With it, you can access your inbox and respond to messages with the same ease and convenience as if you were using Gmail directly, and it's available on macOS, iOS, Android, and as a web app for flexible access across all your devices.
Best of all, Clean Email offers a ton of features for bulk inbox management that let you:
- Clean up thousands of old emails using Smart Folders that group similar messages automatically.
- Set up Auto Clean rules to archive, label, or delete messages the moment they arrive.
- Unsubscribe from unwanted senders in just a few clicks with the built-in Unsubscriber.
- Protect your inbox with the Screener feature, which filters messages from unknown senders before they reach you.
Before You Begin
⚠️ Removing a Chrome profile deletes browsing history, bookmarks, saved passwords, and autofill data from that device. Although synced data still exists on Google’s servers and can be re-added later, it’s best to export bookmarks and passwords just in case.
See Google’s official guide for how to export bookmarks via chrome://bookmarks and passwords via chrome://password-manager.
Remove a Saved Google Account from Chrome
I've always used two Google accounts in Chrome—one for personal stuff and another for work. Recently, I decided to switch to using a completely different web browser for my personal activities. To avoid any mix-ups, I needed to remove my personal Gmail account from Chrome. Here's how you can do the same:
Desktop (Windows, Mac, Chromebook)
- Open Chrome and click on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
- Select Manage Chrome profiles.
- Click the three vertical dots next to the account you want to get rid of.
- Select the Delete option to delete the Chrome profile.
- Confirm your decision by clicking Delete again.
The account and all browsing history, sign-in methods, bookmarks, and autofill data will be deleted from your Chrome web browser. Just to be clear, the account won't be deleted permanently. Instead, it will continue to exist on Google's servers, and you'll be able to use it, for example, when adding another email address to Gmail.
Mobile (Android and iOS)
- Open the Google Chrome browser on your mobile device.
- Tap on your profile icon in the top-right.
- Tap on your current Google account (should be listed at the top).
- Scroll down and select the Manage accounts on this device… option.
- Select the single Gmail account you want to remove.
- Сhoose the Remove from This Device option.
- Confirm by tapping Remove.
💡 Should you ever change your mind and decide to add the account again, you can follow our guide on managing multiple Gmail accounts, which contains similarly easy-to-follow steps. We also have a guide dedicated to deleting Gmail accounts on mobile devices, and we recommend you give it a quick look if there's still something you're not sure about.
What’s the Difference Between “Signing Out” and “Removing the Account”?
It’s easy to confuse signing out with actually removing a Google account from Chrome, but they’re not the same thing:
- Signing out or turning off sync stops Chrome from auto‑signing you into Gmail or Drive when you log in, but your profile and saved data remain on the device.
- Removing (deleting) the Chrome profile deletes the local data tied to that Google account for good and removes the account from the profiles list.
If you're trying to start fresh or free up a shared device, removing the profile is the more thorough option.
💡 Note: If you’ve signed out of your Google account in Chrome, you can still use Clean Email on your iPhone or Android device to access your Gmail inbox. You can check your messages, reply, and forward emails just like you normally would, without needing the Gmail app or signing in through a browser.
Completely Remove a Google Account from Chrome to Disable Auto Logins
After removing the unwanted Google account from Chrome, you might notice that the account is still available when you click the "Login with Google" button on a web page. This can be annoying, especially if the account belongs to someone else. The good news is that it's possible to completely remove a Google account from Chrome and disable these auto-logins.
Desktop (Windows, Mac, Chromebook)
- Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner to access the menu.
- Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
- Go to the You and Google section of the left sidebar.
- Navigate to Sync and Google services.
- Disable the Allow Chrome sign-in option under Other Google services.
If you're still signed out to Gmail and would like to change that, then you should read our guide on how to sign out of Gmail and keep your account secure.
Mobile (Android and iOS)
- Open the Chrome browser on your mobile device.
- Tap the three horizontal dots in the bottom-right corner.
- Open the Settings menu.
- Navigate to the Google Services category.
- Disable the Allow Chrome Sign-in option.
As you can see, the steps to completely remove a Google account from Chrome on mobile devices are almost exactly the same as on desktop.
Remember, disabling auto-logins doesn't mean you can't use Google services. It just gives you more control over when and how you sign in. If you need to access your Google account, you can always manually sign in when necessary.
Still See Your Google Account on Login Screens?
Even after removing a Chrome profile or signing out, your Google account might still show up on “Sign in with Google” buttons across websites. That’s because Chrome stores a list of remembered accounts at the browser level.
To fully clear that list:
- Make sure you’re signed out of all Google accounts.
- Go to: Google Sign-in Chooser.
- Click “Remove an account” and tap the little red trash icon next to the account you want to delete.
