Remove your Google account (FRP) before selling

Android phones have a theft-protection feature that many sellers don't know about until it's too late. If you factory-reset an Android phone while your Google account is still on it, the phone asks for that same Google account when it starts again. The new owner can't get past that screen, so the phone can't be used or bought.

This feature is often called Factory Reset Protection (FRP). Google's help pages call it device protection. The fix is simple: remove your Google account from the phone first, then reset it.

What Google says about it

Google's page Help prevent others from using your device without permission explains that device protection stops someone from using your phone if it is reset to factory settings without your permission: only someone with your Google account or screen lock can use it again. It also says plainly how to switch it off: remove your Google account from the device.

Google's page Reset your Android device to factory settings adds a warning worth knowing: if you recently reset your Google account password, wait 24 hours before you factory-reset the phone.

Step by step

These steps follow Google's page Reset your old Android device. Menu names differ between brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus, so look for the closest match on your phone.

1. Back up your photos, contacts and chats. For WhatsApp: Settings → Chats → Chat backup → Back up.
2. Make sure you know your Google account password. Check it by signing in on another device. If you just changed it, wait 24 hours before resetting.
3. Remove every Google account: open Settings → Passwords & accounts (on some phones Accounts, or Users & accounts) → tap each Google account → Remove account.
4. Remove the phone maker's account too. Some brands have their own account and find-my-phone lock, such as a Samsung account or a Xiaomi (Mi) account. Remove it the same way, from Settings → Accounts or the brand's account screen.
5. Factory-reset the phone: Settings → System → Reset options → Erase all data (factory reset). On some phones it is under General management → Reset.
6. Take out your SIM and memory card.

How to know it worked

After the reset, the phone should start with the language or welcome screen and let you set it up without asking for a previous Google account. If it says the device was reset and asks for a Google account that was used on it before, the account was still on it. Sign in with that account to finish, then remove it and reset again.

If the phone is already reset or broken

• If the phone already asks for your Google account after a reset, sign in with the same account on the phone, then remove the account from Settings and reset again.
• If the screen is broken, you can still sign the phone out of your Google account from the device list in your Google Account settings on another phone or computer, but the safest way is to remove the account on the phone itself before the screen gets worse.
• A work phone or a child's phone managed with Family Link has to be released by the employer's IT team or the parent's Family Link app.

Don't share your password with a buyer

Some buyers ask the seller to share the Google password so they can unlock the phone later. Don't. Remove the account yourself instead. Changekro will never ask for your Google or Apple password, your UPI PIN, a bank password or any OTP.

Selling your Android phone to Changekro

Find your model on our mobile sell page (for example Samsung phones), answer the condition questions and book a free pickup in one of our cities. Remove your accounts before the executive arrives; the executive checks the phone at your door, including that it isn't locked to an account, and you are paid by UPI, bank transfer or cash before you hand it over. If you'd rather not reset it yourself, the executive can factory-reset it in front of you once your accounts are removed.

More steps for a safe sale are in our selling checklist.