You can now use a selfie video to sign in to your Google account: here’s how to do it

Google has been incredibly active recently, releasing new features and making changes to existing ones since the start of the year. While some of these are useful additions that benefit all users – like Google Pixel phones which could benefit from app locking in the future – others are much more polarizing, like Gemini taking control of your phone with agentic AI capabilities.

A feature that is more in line with the former is Selfie Video, which just began rolling out in the last week of July 2026. Once the option is set up, you can record a video of yourself in real time to connect to any device. This is useful if you ever lose your phone or forget your password, as it avoids the need to access a device you are logged in to or using, unlike other authentication methods.

To use it, you will first need to record a video of yourself. You’ll be asked to perform certain movements to get all angles of your face by turning or tilting your head, and an AI model will analyze this to see if you’re a real person. This recording is encrypted and saved to your Google account. When you choose to connect using Selfie Video, you will be asked to record another video, again following the on-screen instructions to ensure the footage is live. Google compares this to the video you recorded during setup, and if there’s a match, you’re connected.

It’s natural to be skeptical of any feature that lets you sign in on new devices without a password, but Google is taking several steps to ensure this can’t be easily misused. The video itself is encrypted and stored in the cloud, and you can delete it at any time, removing the ability to log in via this method unless you set it up again. To do this, go to the Selfie Video page in your Google account, select the video, then delete it.

Additionally, Google says it uses “multiple layers of security to prevent identity theft attempts such as fake photos and videos (i.e. deep fakes),” in addition to the company’s standard security practices that protect your account from potentially malicious login attempts.

For users concerned about their privacy and how this recorded video is used, Google says that by default it is only used when you try to sign in using this method. However, you can choose to allow Google to use the video for additional purposes, such as to improve its facial detection capabilities. It is also stated that Selfie Video can be used to access certain features for certain users, although this is also completely optional.

You can add Selfie Video as a sign-in option to your Google account through any device you’re signed in to, as long as your region has access to the feature and your device has a camera. The easiest way to do this is to go to the Google Selfie Video login web page, but there are other methods as well.

On a phone, open a Google app, such as Google Drive, Gmail, or Google Messages, and tap your profile picture in the upper right corner. From the options that open, tap Manage your Google account just below your profile icon to open your account settings. Here, tap Security and connection and scroll to the bottom of the “How to sign in to Google” section, where you will find Selfie Video under “You can add more sign-in options”.

On a desktop computer or your laptop, open Google Chrome and click your profile icon in the upper right corner of your screen. Click on Manage your Google account here too, and choose Security and connection in the left sidebar. You will also find the Selfie Video option under “You can add more sign-in options” here by scrolling down to the bottom of the “How to sign in to Google” section.