Google activation lock

Removing your Google activation lock from device settings on your phone

Depending on the specific model of the Android phone, the following steps to remove your Google account may differ slightly. The general steps listed below should allow you to remove your Google account from your phone, but some phones may skip some of the steps.

  1. Switch the device ON
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. Tap Accounts or Users & Accounts.
  4. Select the account type, which in this case would be Google.
  5. You will now see a list of Google emails that are linked to your device. Select the first account.
  6. You will now see Sync Settings for the selected account. Tap the menu icon (three vertical dots) on the top right-hand corner.
  7. Tap Remove account.
  8. Confirm by tapping Remove account again.
  9. Repeat steps 5 to 8 until all Google Accounts have been removed from your device. Please note: removing an account does not delete any data from your Google Account, your device will simply stop syncing data.

If you are unable to complete the steps above, you would also be able to remove the Google Account from the phone by accessing your Google account online.

Removing your Google activation lock
online

  1. Log into your Google account.
  2. Once logged in, go to Device activity & notifications (located under Sign-in & security).
  3. Next click on Review devices (under recently used devices).
  4. Select the device you wish to remove from your Google account and click the red Remove button beside account access.
  5. There will be a confirmation window, select Remove.
  6. A confirmation window will show that the access has been removed from your device.
  7. To confirm, you can check the list of recent phones. The selected phone will show Access removed.

Please Note: After removing the Google account access online you will need to perform the reset from the settings of the phone. On some model phones, a hardware reset will request the Google account information during setup.

72 Hour Google Lock: If a Google password is changed and the device is immediately factory reset, a message will appear after a restart which says: "please sign in using one of the owners accounts for this device" This indicates the google account on the phone is now locked for 72 hours and you must wait for it to reset. This mostly commonly affects Samsung devices.