Although requiring a phone number for a Gmail address may seem like an unnecessary step, or even like a violation of privacy, Google does so to more effectively protect your account. With this information Google can tie the account to the physical object of a real person, making it much more difficult to misuse the service You can take login security one step further by signing up for Google’s “2-Step Verification.” With this option turned on, when you sign in to your account Google asks for your password and then sends a unique code to the phone number you provided at account creation. By entering the code into the second verification step, you can access your account. You can choose to only do this verification once per device. In this way, Google adds an extra layer of protection to your account. Writer Bio
