How to Completely Remove Your Phone Number from Your Google Account

Google heavily encourages users to link a mobile phone number to their Google Account. It serves as an incredibly effective tool for recovering a forgotten password, verifying your identity when logging in from a new device, and setting up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). However, privacy-conscious users often prefer not to hand over their personal phone numbers to large tech companies.

If you have previously linked a number to your account and now wish to revoke that access, you can completely remove it. Be warned: doing so will severely limit your account recovery options, so you must ensure you have alternative recovery methods in place before proceeding.

Setting Up Alternative Recovery Methods

Before you delete your phone number, you must provide Google with another way to verify your identity. If you do not, and you forget your password, you will be permanently locked out of your Gmail, Drive, and Photos data.

1. Open your web browser and navigate to myaccount.google.com. Log in with your Google Account credentials.
2. On the left-hand navigation menu, click on Security.
3. Scroll down to the section titled “How you sign in to Google”.
4. If you use 2-Step Verification (2FA), click on it and ensure you have an Authenticator app (like Google Authenticator or Authy) configured, or that you have downloaded a set of Backup Codes.
5. Return to the Security page and scroll down to “Ways we can verify it’s you”.
6. Click on Recovery email and ensure you have a valid, accessible secondary email address (like a Yahoo or Outlook address) registered here. This will be your only lifeline if you get locked out.

Deleting the Phone Number

Once your backup methods are securely in place, you can proceed to strip the phone number from your profile.

1. While still on the Security page within your Google Account settings, scroll back down to the “Ways we can verify it’s you” section.
2. Click on Recovery phone.
3. Google will prompt you to enter your password again to verify that you are the legitimate owner of the account making this change.
4. On the next screen, you will see your linked phone number. To the right of the number, click the Trash can icon (Delete).
5. A popup will warn you about the consequences of removing the number. Read the warning, then click the blue Remove number button to confirm.

Checking Your Personal Info Tab

Sometimes, Google retains your phone number for general profile information even after you remove it from the security settings. To ensure it is completely eradicated from your account:

1. Click on Personal info in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Scroll down to the “Contact info” section and click on Phone.
3. If your number is still listed here, click on it, then click the Trash can icon to permanently delete it from your public profile as well.