What to expect when using Securly’s Restrict Google Login feature?

As more and more schools choose Securly, we find school staff and students taking their devices to other school districts that also use Securly. This is great!  We would love to see collaboration among districts. 

However, sometimes it also means that the visiting staff or students do not get the same Securly filtering experience or come across issues such as the inability to log in to their Gmail accounts. To ensure you are prepared for such scenarios, all IT admins should be aware of Securly’s Restrict Google Login feature.

Alternatively, having a Securly Guest Network Policy can also make the user experience for guests much more pleasant.

What is this feature for?

This feature was designed to prevent users from accessing their personal Gmail once logged into their Chromebook (it also works for other devices). While Google does provide administrators with features to prevent non-school accounts from logging into the Chromebook, once logged into a device, it is possible to open a fresh tab and log into personal Gmail, which will then grant the user their own personal search and YouTube restrictions (which in most cases are unfiltered).

To ensure that such access is available at the admin’s discretion and assessment of student safety, you can place your school domains inside the feature displayed below. This way you can limit access to just the school accounts. Importantly, it is possible to exclude staff members from this option.                     

To exclude staff members, you need to toggle the “Exclude from Google Login Restrictions” switch in the policy assigned to staff members.

If you expect other Securly School staff and students to visit your school and connect to your network, you should ensure that the Restrict Google Login feature is appropriately set up.