Gmail isn’t as private as you might think.

Because of the way Google connects third-party apps to your Gmail, people at those app companies may be able to read the contents of your emails, the Wall Street Journal has revealed. 

While Google has previously confirmed that it’s been using algorithms to trawl your emails, this takes things to a whole new level by giving outside apps direct access to your inbox.

Reacting to the unsurprising backlash, Google has since posted a fairly lengthy blog post explaining how its third-party apps work and how much access they have.

However if you’re worried that you might have handed over access to your emails to an outside company there is a really simple way to find out a) if there is a company that’s snooping on your emails and b) how to stop them from gaining access.

How to find out if an app is looking at your emails.

Simply head to the circular icon in the top right-hand side of Gmail and click on it. Then click on Google Account and you’ll be taken through to the main account page for all of your Google services, including Gmail.

Now head to Apps with account access on the left-hand side.

Here you’ll see every app or company that has been granted access to your Google account in some way or another. You will be able to see how much access each app has either by looking beneath the name or by clicking on MANAGE APPS at the bottom.

From here you’ll be able to access the privacy settings of each app and see how much access they have. If you see the phrase ‘Has full access to your Google Account’ that means they can access your inbox and of course, any of the emails within it.