Accounts and locksFor sellers4 min read

Remove your Google account and avoid FRP lock

Factory Reset Protection ties an Android phone to your Google account. Remove it before you sell, fix it if you already reset, and never pay for an FRP bypass.

In short

A Google account on an Android phone switches on Factory Reset Protection (FRP), which can lock the next owner out.
Remove every Google account in Settings before you reset, and sign out of your phone brand's account too.
Already reset? Sign in once more and remove the account properly. Never pay for an FRP bypass.

01What Factory Reset Protection is

When you add a Google account to an Android phone, it switches on Factory Reset Protection, usually called FRP. Google calls it device protection. Its job is to make a stolen phone useless to whoever has it.

To reset a protected phone from Settings, you first enter your screen lock. If the phone is reset another way, such as from the recovery menu with its buttons or remotely through Find Hub, it asks for the Google account that was on it, or sometimes the old screen lock, before it can be set up again.

Google's own advice is simple: to turn off device protection, remove your Google account from the phone.

02Why a buyer can't use a locked phone

At the setup screen, a locked phone asks for the previous owner's account. Google says that if this can't be given, the phone can't be used at all after a factory reset. The buyer can't skip it, and a shop can't sell the phone on.

Fixing it later means tracking you down, a trip back to the shop, or a refund. It's far easier to remove the account while the phone is still in your hand.

03How to remove the account

01
Open your accounts
Go to Settings > Passwords & accounts. On some phones it's called Accounts, Users & accounts or Passwords, passkeys & accounts. On Samsung phones it's Settings > Accounts and backup > Manage accounts.
02
Remove your Google account
Tap the account, then Remove account, and confirm.
03
Enter your screen lock
If it's the last Google account on the phone, you'll be asked for your PIN, pattern or password.
04
Repeat for every account
Remove any other Google accounts too, such as a second Gmail or a work account. If the phone has more than one user, remove the other users as well.
05
Sign out of your brand account
Samsung, Xiaomi and other brands have their own accounts, and some have their own find-my-phone lock. On a Xiaomi phone with Find device switched on, a reset locks the phone to your Xiaomi account, so sign out of it in Settings first. You'll need its password.

04Already reset without removing it?

This is fixable, as long as you can get the phone back for a few minutes.

01
Sign in once more
Turn the phone on and go through setup. When it asks for the previous Google account, sign in with yours, or enter your old screen lock if that's offered.
02
Remove the account
Once you're in, remove the account from Settings as described above.
03
Reset again
Reset from Settings. This time the phone goes back to the welcome screen with no account attached.

If you can't get the phone back, sign it out from another device: in your Google account, open Security, then Your devices, choose the phone and sign it out. That cuts the phone off from your account, but it may not clear the lock the buyer sees, so getting the phone back is the reliable fix.

05Never pay for an FRP bypass

If it's your phone, the proper routes are free: sign in with your account, recover your password through Google's account recovery, or take the phone and its bill to the brand's authorised service centre.
Bypass tools and services are often scams, or ask you to install software you can't trust.
If you're buying a phone that needs a bypass, its owner hasn't let go of it. It may be stolen. Walk away.

06At the shop counter

Remove your accounts at home if you can, since it needs your passwords. If you forget, do it yourself at the counter, and never tell anyone at a shop your Google password.

Recashy's free pre-sale checklist puts this step in order with the others. When you sell through a Recashy partner shop, the phone is checked in front of you before a price is agreed, so anything still signed in can be sorted out there and then.