Android is now a few years old. Anyone who has not bought into the Apple cosmos is likely to have used more than one cell phone with the Google system. Always with you: The Google account that you use to install your apps and more. Stupidly, Google remembers in the long term on which devices you have set up your Google account. For example, your old cell phones and tablets show up when you install apps in the Google Play Store. That's possible just fix it – but your android is not really far away. But that can be changed!
Update: Remove Android account handle – This is how it works in 2019
This article originally appeared in the summer of 2016. Since Google is Google, a lot has happened since then (see comments). I've updated the article extensively. The methods described below work as of early 2019. If this is no longer the case, please let us know in the comments.
Deleting old devices from the Google account – why and why?
Why even bother deleting a device you no longer use from your Google Account? The shortest and best answer: security! If you have not completely reset the old android, it still has full access to your data. And anyone who uses services like Gmail or Google Calendar has stored a lot of sensitive data there. Regardless, some Google services (such as Google Play Music) have specific device limits. If you delete cell phones and tablets that are no longer used, you can get around such limits.
But enough preamble, let's get started!
1. Go to Google Account Center
Visit Google Account Management via the link https://myaccount.google.com/. Here you log in with the Google account that you also used on the obsolete Android smartphone or tablet. From here you now have two options for removing an Android smartphone from your account.
2. Method 1: Perform security check for your Google account
One way to remove old cell phones from your Google Account is to do a Google Account Security Check. Click below found security issues (there may be something else here if Google isn't "worried" about your account) on the link secure account. Expands the point here devices. Google now lists all devices on which you have not logged in for a long time, i.e. old cell phones or PCs. Click Remove and confirms the notice to delete access rights to the Google account. Irrespective of this, you should also check the other security instructions and, if necessary, implement the instructions from Google - we don't want nasty hackers to get at you hijack google account be able ;)
3. Method 2: Remove devices via security settings
The second way to disconnect old androids and other devices from your Google account can be found by clicking on the area Safety Left. Here you scroll down to the section My devices and then click on manage devices. Alternatively, just follow this link that our reader Foh left in the comments below:
https://myaccount.google.com/security-checkup/2
This is where Google lists all devices with account access. Now just look for the unused androids from the list, click on them and select the item Remove. In this way, you block all devices from your Google account that you no longer use.
By the way: If you have lost your mobile phone, you can also try using the Track Android Device Manager. You can find even more tips and tricks for Android here.
Hallo,
Thank you for the article! I am on the “other side” as a buyer. How can I check if the Google account on a cell phone I want to buy was deleted regularly and not just factory reset the cell phone.
Is it enough to want to sign in with my own Google account? If this works and it doesn't ask for the last Google account, am I on the safe side?
Thanks in advance :)
Ramona
Hello Ramona,
without complete guarantee, but: yes, it should work like this :) If you can log in with your account, the smartphone is "free" and can therefore be transferred to you.
If this is not the case, it must first be "properly" deleted by one of the previous owners. The solution for Android is now similar to that for Apple.
Greetings,
Boris
Hello Boris,
many thanks for your response. Logging in has worked so far and I haven't encountered any other difficulties so far, so I assume everything is fine. The Samsung reactivation lock has not reported either. :)
Greetings!
Ramona
I have a question about removing the device from my Google account,
I want to sell a device and made a backup on Google before resetting it. If I now delete the device from my portfolio, will the data backup of this device also be gone?
Hi Maik,
In short, you can manage the Android backups through the Google Drive app on Android. In the sidebar under "Backups". I'm not sure if it also works in the browser via the Drive page :-/ Google keeps the backups for 60 days before they are deleted. You can also delete them manually. As soon as I get to it, more on that in tuto form :)
I have just unsubscribed from 2 devices using the click path described, which I have reset in the last few days.
Now the devices under:
– My devices
– Manage devices
– Devices on which you are logged out
...displayed.
Since the note "You have logged out of your Google account on these devices in the last 28 days" is stored here, I assume that the devices will now be displayed in the list for a further 28 days (for the sake of clarity) and then disappear automatically. In my opinion, deletion from this list is NOT possible - but the link to the account is definitely removed.
Hello Boris, unfortunately the above variant no longer funzt!
Is there a 2020 way to erase my old phone?
Kind regards, Britta
Thanks for the article!!!
Hi
I sold my device and I no longer see this device on the Google account under my devices. However, the buyer is now prompted to log in with the last synchronized Google account. What I see is that it is still visible on Google Play, but I unchecked the display there.
It can't be that I no longer see something that seems to still be linked. The reason is probably that it's 28 days older, but I should still see that if it's still there.
Does anybody have a solution?
Was the device factory reset prior to sale?
I also have the problem, as described by Guagu71.
The mobile phone was reset to delivery status and subsequently deleted online from the Google account. However, the previous Google account is still required.
I got an answer from Google customer service. One wonders if they read the message at all.
I was not answered how I can delete a device from my Google account but how I can delete my Google account. With a lot of copy-paste text that says what else deleting the account entails.
No word on how to remove a device from the account. Wonderful support.
Set note 6!
Hallo,
it didn't work on my Samsung Galaxy S8 either.
Opened Gmail settings from PC and also from the new Note 10+ – Also like others mentioned before, don't have a "Remove" button. Only: "Find a smartphone" or "You don't know this device?"
And on the Google hotline I get the nice announcement that they unfortunately do not offer any support due to the current Corona crisis. Really great! Can't sell the device like that.
Hallo,
it didn't work on my Samsung Galaxy A5.
Opened the Gmail settings via PC - like others before, I don't have a "Remove" button either. Only: "Search smartphone" or "Don't know this device?" (Here you can change the PW to protect the account).
I don't find either of the two options given helpful because I don't have the options listed.
Kind regards
Bettina
I don't know what the other commenters did here, but the instructions worked perfectly for me with a Samsung phone that I've already sold. Thanks a lot for this!
So it worked well for me exactly according to the description, both with the old Samsung and the old htc
Thanks very much! It worked. Great guide.
Thanks for the feedback, glad everything worked :-)
Why don't you try a completely different approach? As a user, I am fundamentally the master of my data, including that of my phones, tablets, etc. So if I contact Google and forcefully request that it be deleted, they have to do so. In my opinion, I don't have to get involved in a specific routine (i.e. via the Google account itself). From a purely legal point of view, I am entitled to this action. There is a GDPR for a reason.
Wouldn't that be worth a try?
And if I want to log in again later with the old device, are there no problems? No data loss?
With this method, the smartphone is only logged out of all Google things. You can then log in again at any time using a password and (if activated) 2-factor authentication. Nothing is deleted.
You can perform a remote wipe with the linked Google Device Manager.
Hello Boris,
thanks for your efforts, but it doesn't work that way. The old problem remains that only devices that are currently connected can be "removed" via the paths you have shown.
If you need to remove a device that is not connected, the only way to do it is via the following link: https://myaccount.google.com/security-checkup/2
Why Google doesn't publish this link anywhere is a mystery to me.
I just found this link myself today, and I'm curious about the long-term effects...
BTW, your screenshot shows a Nexus 5. Strangely enough, this same device also appeared on my premises.
What's that all about??
Hi Foh,
I was just really pissed off that it didn't work again. Yesterday I removed three devices with "Method 2", some of which I reset and sold a year ago, but which were still reported to Google. Basically it works, somehow ;)
Question: Did you do this on mobile or on a desktop browser? Because: The link you posted takes me to the desktop exactly to the security check I mentioned under method 1. So the click sequence "Save account -> Devices -> Registered devices". For example, I still have a OnePlus 5 that I reset more than 200 days ago, so a little more than 28 days ;)
I'll now include the direct link in the tutorial and remove it from method 2, which seems to open something different on mobile than on the desktop (really great solution from Google :-( )
As far as the Nexus 5 is concerned: It's actually a Google Nexus 5 for me ;) The thing was my cell phone in 2013/14 and I still use it as a drawer smartphone for various custom ROM and craft items.
Have you ever installed a custom ROM on an android? Developers often change the device name to avoid errors or incompatibilities in the Play Store.
Hi Boris,
The path: "Backup account -> Devices -> Registered devices"
doesn't exist with me.
For me there is only: "Security-> My devices/Manage devices-> Recent devices.
I'm in G Account with PC Browser.
It's like I said, with method 2, when I click on "Manage Devices", I get to "Recently Used Devices". So it comes up with a completely different view, with different options than the link I posted.
Method 2 only offers to remove logged in devices, but my link allows me to log out all devices from the account via the 3dot menu. (see screenshots)
I canceled the LG Nexus 5 that way. So far it hasn't reappeared.
I haven't had a device with a custom ROM in activity for over a year. So it can't be the LG Nexus 5, because it was last logged in 3 days ago.
I don't think the Nexus 5 is a hack, but rather a "natural part" of the Google mess. The Nexus 5 has been circling my device list for a few weeks now, and the owner probably doesn't even know that my account shows them logged in.
By the way, 2 of my devices are not displayed in the list at all. Maybe the 2 devices that don't show up in my device list, but I'm always logged in with, show up in the Nexus 5 owner's account?!
Google makes it possible.
I've posted screenshots of it at this link:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/play-de/6AzsULcXUlQ/-zupbR7ZDAAJ
The entire Google chaos is also described there. The screenshots are currently at the bottom of the post.
Greetings,
foh
Hello Foh,
were you able to clarify the problem with LG Nexus 5? Despite changing my password, it appeared in my device list - sometimes even as "My smartphone" with "now active" and I've never owned an LG smartphone. Pretty spooky.
It would be great if someone could tell me how to get rid of it.
LG, Beate
I'll join in: Have you ever had a cell phone with a custom ROM and/or any cheap Chinese device in operation?
The background is that they often pretend to be the Nexus 5 (or later Google Pixel) for reasons of compatibility with the Google Play Store etc. ROM developers and manufacturers can set this quite easily.
Unfortunately, that is no explanation. I've only had Samsung smartphones before.
LG, Beate
I signed out the unknown LG Nexus 5 in the Google account, changed the Google password on the PC via Windows, and also activated "Sign in with two-step verification".
If you log in to the smartphone in the Google account again with the new password, the LG Nexus 5 will be displayed as "My device" again.
Helpless greetings, Beate
Hi all,
I have updated our tutorial extensively and brought it up to date from 2019 :) I hope that Google will simply leave the steps as they are in the future. Consistency is actually a good thing...
Unfortunately, the Google account now looks completely different. The option to delete is no longer available, or in my account only for some devices with which I am currently logged in. I can't remove the unknown device that logs in every few days, can't delete, can't call, can't lock ... nothing.
Google talks so much about security, but this way it protects unauthorized account access. It's unbelievable what kind of crap they make!
@georg-heinz – you could only do that if you knew your account and password!
is the cell phone also “unlocked” if I remove it from the google account?
Now, if you've run a cell phone and the previous owner no longer cooperates, I recommend writing to frpunlock.sgn (at) spamgourmet.com, I was
the google lock on my samsung galaxy s7 within an hour
cheaply removed
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 has its screen makes Android 7.1 no longer run, screen in glitches anymore, it doesn't restart anymore!!!
His tablets "Galaxy Tab S2 8.0" up to 2 years warranty!
Sincerely yours.
C. Auffenberg
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So I don't have this remove button ;/ how can I add it?
If you log in to your Google account with a computer and not with a smartphone, removing it also works.
Do not do it !
You can only turn off the visibility.
The "device" remains visible under "My devices"...
Apparently this only works for devices that are still active. As soon as a device has been reset, the "Remove" button disappears. How to remove this device now, however, has remained hidden to me so far.
I have the same problem
I can only remove from account access.
However, the devices remain visible in the Google account, but without access permission.
Apparently, this security crap from Google only works sporadically. I also have one that cannot be removed, others go without problems. So I'm wondering, should Google take a look at this or omit this "security feature"?! Just tried to get our cell phone back in after a factory reset, of course the user no longer knows the data, so you get the hair dryer, should I tell him to throw it away? The new one can't be unlocked, and it can't be removed in a nasty way either! Thanks google!
Did exactly that, Sony, ZTE, Huwai are from the list, only the Samsung still exist on the list and cannot be removed.
Just like me, I still have a Windows Phone standing there which I haven't had for almost a year. It also shows when it was last registered. There is something wrong.
Good day,
this article is not helpful because the steps described are incorrect.
Devices cannot be removed from a Google account.
They are displayed, you can select them but not remove them.
Hello Harald,
I'm sorry it's not working for you. Where exactly is the problem?
I just checked again and was able to remove an Android smartphone from my Google account exactly as described. As described in the text, the method only works for smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, registered computers cannot be removed (... only Google knows why :( ).
Here is a freshly created screenshot including the “Remove” button:
https://www.tutonaut.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Zuletzt_verwendete_Geräte.jpg
Good morning,
unfortunately only the new smartphone can be removed for me and the old one, which is to be removed, cannot be removed!?!?! What can I do, I sold the old smartphone and the buyer can't use it because he always wants my Google account.
The device does not have to have been registered with the account for more than 28 days in order to be removed.
I also have the above problem, but in my case it has only been 20 days since the last login.
So now I'll wait another 10 days and I'll see.
I can't remove either. Doesn't stand there.
So, for me it worked as described in method 1
Thank you Mr Boris!