What do Google restricted scopes mean for apps you connect?

A restricted scope is a Google permission that gives an app wide access to user data, such as mail or drive contents. Apps that request them face extra review and, if they store data on servers, a security assessment. For you, it is a signal to look harder before approving.

Definitions

An OAuth scope is a named permission an app asks for when you connect it. Google groups scopes by sensitivity. Restricted scopes are the top group. Google's page says they "provide wide access to Google user data", and apps that request them must go through a verification process unless an exception applies.

What Google requires of those apps

According to Google's documentation:

• The app must meet the API Services User Data Policy requirements for those scopes, which involve a more extensive review.
• An app that stores or transmits restricted data on servers must complete a security assessment, and one that reaches the data through a third-party server needs an assessment by a Google-approved assessor.
• The app must be reverified at least every 12 months after the assessor's letter of approval.

This is a useful floor. It is not a guarantee about the vendor's behavior. A verified app has passed a review at a point in time. It can still be breached, change owners or add features later.

What to do when someone asks to connect an app

1. Read the permission list. Does the feature need all of it? A calendar scheduling tool asking for full mail access deserves a question.
2. Check who is connecting. An executive assistant account with delegated mail is a bigger grant than a test user.
3. Ask for the least access that works. Google's guidance to developers is to request only what a feature needs and ask at the moment of use.
4. Decide the access level in your admin console. Workspace admins can set an app to trusted, limited, specific Google data, or blocked.
5. Record the app, the scopes, the owner and a review date.
6. Re-review yearly, and after any vendor news.

Unverified apps and test mode

Apps in testing status show a warning that Google has not verified an app undergoing testing, and have user caps and shorter token life. A warning screen on a production tool is a reason to stop and ask the vendor why.

What verification does not cover

• How long the vendor keeps copies of your data.
• Which subprocessors see it.
• Whether the vendor's own staff can read your content.

Ask the vendor those in writing. A security assessment of the app is one input to a vendor review, not the whole review.

Quick check

Safeguard's asset discovery and compliance evidence automation can help you keep a reviewed list of connected apps. Try the free scan at gold.safeguard.sh/scan.

Sources

• Restricted scope verification, Google for Developers
• Control which apps access Google Workspace data
• OAuth 2.0 best practices, Google for Developers

Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.