If you click a login link and find yourself face to face with an unfamiliar login screen, then you might have a few doubts. After all, this could be a scam and entering your details could mean handing over your details to some hackers that’ll use it for who knows what. But if that happens when you’re logging into Google, you don’t need to worry quite so much.
That's because Google is rolling out a brand new login screen, which promises to have a “more modern look and feel” than the current login page. Apparently this is in line with all the other Material Design changes Google has made over the past few years — purely a visual change.
Instead of making any huge sweeping alterations, Google's going for more of a minimalistic version of the existing login screen. There’s just less stuff cluttering up the screen, but it’s different enough that it might set off a few alarm bells.
The good news is that you're probably not being phished. All the usual rules on how to avoid falling prey phishing scams do still apply, like checking the URL and not clicking any unfamiliar links sent to your inbox. But the new Google login screen is not one of the things to be worried about.
If you've been getting worried calls from your parents about this, that's because the new login page started rolling out to desktop and mobile on February 21, with universal availability by March 4.
So don’t be surprised if that login page suddenly changes next time you need to access your Google account — be it through Gmail, Drive, Photos or something else entirely.
