How to remove Google Account from Android device
Changing of Phones and Tablets has become a common thing these days, with new models coming every day you phone which you might have purchased just some time back might seem outdated. With the change of Phones and tablets comes the problem of shifting all your data from old Android device to your new device like contacts, messages, photos, apps, etc.
If it is an Android device you must have setup your Google account with your Android device. When you are selling your device or gifting it to someone, removing your Email and Google account is important to maintain your privacy. If you are facing this error while removing your Google account from your Android device “This account is required by some applications. You can only remove it by resetting the phone to factory defaults”.
Nobody wants to lose all their data, but remove their Google account without any loss of important data from their old device. You can follow the steps and remove your account as well as not loose any data in the process.
First let’s try the simple method:
- Go to System Settings and then under User and Backup select Accounts, now from the list tap on Google account
- From the Google Account tap on the Google account you want to remove
- Now tap the three dot icon on the right side top of the screen to launch the drop down Menu -> tap on Remove Account
- You will get a pop up box saying your messages, contacts and other data will be deleted, if you have backed up your data tap on Remove Account.
If your account is successfully removed you are good to go, but if you are facing the error mentioned above, follow the next set of steps to get around the error.
- In your Android device open your File browsing app or Root Explorer
- Here select and open the Data/System folder
- Search for the “accounts.db” file and delete it
- In some Android devices the above file may not be seen, you have to delete another file “accounts.xml” which can be found in the data/system/sync folder.
This tutorial is required in fixing many other Android Errors which can be related to Google Play Store and also while using applications. Do let us know if this tutorial was helpful, if you have any other tricks to remove Google Account form your Android device let us know in the comments section.