Signing In to Your Tangaza School Email

Part A - On your Phone (Gmail app)

1. Open Gmail. On a phone with no account, tap Add an email address. If you already use a personal Gmail, tap your profile picture, then add another account.
2. Choose Google. Not Exchange, not Other your school account is a Google Workspace account.
3. Enter your full address and tap Next. No slashes, no spaces, no capital letters.
4. Type the temporary password August@2025. Tick Show password to check for typing mistakes, then tap Next.
5. Tap I agree on the Terms of Service page. You only see this the first time.
6. Set your own password. Google requires this on first sign-in: at least 12 characters with upper case, lower case, a number and a symbol. Do not reuse the temporary one.
7. Your inbox opens. Drive, Docs and Classroom now use the same account. Switch accounts from your profile picture and check the address at the top before sending mail.

Turn on 2-Step Verification (do this now, on your phone)

This stops anyone signing in as you even if they learn your password. It takes about two minutes, and it is required — if you do not do it here, Google will make you do it the first time you sign in on a computer.

1. In the Gmail app, tap your profile picture at the top right.
2. Tap Manage your Google Account. Check the address on the screen is your @tangaza.ac.ke one, not a personal Gmail.
3. Tap Security. If you cannot see it, swipe the row of menu words sideways.
4. Scroll to How you sign in to Google and tap 2-Step Verification.
5. Tap Get started. Type your password again if Google asks.
6. Enter your own mobile number first. Type it in full and check it before continuing: +254 7XX XXX XXX. It must be your number, on a phone you keep — never a friend's or a relative's.
7. Choose Text message, then tap Next and type the 6-digit code Google sends you.
8. If Google also offers Google prompts — a "Yes, it's me" message on this phone — accept that too.
9. Tap Turn on.

Now get your backup codes — do not skip this

1. On the same 2-Step Verification screen, scroll down and tap Backup codes.
2. Tap Get backup codes.
3. You will see ten 8-digit codes. Screenshot them or write them down and keep them somewhere safe that is not your phone.

Each code works once. They are how you get into your account if your phone is lost, stolen, or has no network.

If your data is often off: also add Google Authenticator from the same screen. It makes codes without any internet or airtime, which is the most reliable option on a phone with patchy data.

Never read a verification code to anyone. Not to a classmate, not to someone claiming to be from ICT, not to anyone on the phone. The University will never ask you for a code.

Part B - On your Laptop/Desktop

1. Go to https://mail.google.com/a/tangaza.ac.ke. If someone else's account is showing, click the profile picture and choose Sign out or add another account.
2. Enter your address and password, clicking Next after each.
3. Google will prompt you to change your password immediately after this first sign-in. Set a new password following the same rules as above (at least 12 characters with upper case, lower case, a number and a symbol) and do not reuse the temporary one.
4. On a shared or library computer, always click Sign out when you finish, and never save the password.

Turn on 2-Step Verification — you must do this the first time you sign in on a computer

Google will ask you to set this up as soon as you sign in. Do it there and then. If you see Try later, Not now or Skip, do not click it. You will only be asked again, and until you finish it you can be shut out of your email, Moodle and everything else that uses this account.

Have your phone in your hand before you start. The whole thing takes about two minutes.

1. Sign in at gmail.com with your @tangaza.ac.ke address.
2. When the 2-Step Verification screen appears, click Get started or Continue. Type your password again if Google asks.
3. Enter your own mobile number first. Type it in full and check it before continuing: +254 7XX XXX XXX.
4. Choose Text message, then click Next.
5. Google sends a 6-digit code by SMS. Type the code in and click Next.
6. Click Turn on.

It must be your own number, on a phone you keep. Not a friend's, not a relative's, not the cyber café attendant's, not a number you are about to stop using. Whoever receives the codes controls the account — they can get in, and they can lock you out.

Check the digits twice before you click Next. If one digit is wrong the code goes to a stranger, and you cannot finish signing in.

Save your backup codes

1. Back on the 2-Step Verification page, find Backup codes.
2. Click Get backup codes, then download or print them.
3. Keep them somewhere safe. Do not save them only on the computer you signed in from, and never on a shared or cyber café machine.

Each code works once. They are how you get back in if you lose your phone or change your number.

Changing your phone or SIM soon? Get your backup codes, or add Google Authenticator, before you make the change. Students who set up only SMS and then change number are the ones who end up locked out.

On a shared or cyber café computer: always click your profile picture and Sign out when you finish, then close the browser. Signing in is not the risky part — walking away still signed in is.

If Something Goes Wrong