How to get Google's Inbox without an invite

Google last week launched Inbox, a new email client that organizes emails to highlight “important info at a glance.” Unfortunately, you need to be invited to use the service. But there’s a “hack” lets you circumvent that requirement.

Instead of waiting for Google to send you an invite or hand out more invites for current users to send to their friends, all you need is to find someone with an account who is willing to share their credentials with you.

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There are two methods to pull this off, but they’re basically the same. Just figure out which phone you want to perform the “hack” on.

On your phone

1. Download and install Google’s Inbox from Google Play or Apple’s App Store on your phone (the Chrome app won’t work for this).
2. Add your friend’s account to your phone (For Android, head to Settings => Accounts; for iOS, use another Google app).
3. Fire up Inbox and sign in with your friend’s account.
4. Inside Inbox, open the left-side panel and tap “Manage Accounts.” Slide the switch for your account to “on.” You can also choose “Add account” for additional accounts.
5. Delete your friend’s account from your phone (For Android, head to Settings => Accounts; for iOS, go to the “Manage Accounts” screen in any Google app).

OR

On your friend’s phone

1. Have your friend add your account to their phone (For Android, head to Settings => Accounts; for iOS, use another Google app).
2. Have them fire up Inbox and sign in with their account by opening the left-side panel and tapping your account.
3. Download and install Google’s Inbox from Google Play or Apple’s App Store on your phone (the Chrome app won’t work for this).
4. Sign in to Inbox with your account on your phone.
5. Have your friend delete your account from their phone (For Android, head to Settings => Accounts; for iOS, go to the “Manage Accounts” screen in any Google app).

Remember that whoever is sharing their credentials can change their password to a temporary one beforehand and then change it back after. Also, if you do this in person, whoever is signing in can handle the process and can also make sure their account is deleted afterward.

Important note: This hack doesn’t work if your friend got Inbox without an invite. We’d like to thank netham91 for the find.

You can read our hands-on of Google’s new service here.