Your Android phone number may already be tied to every Google account signed in on your device. Google has been attaching the SIM’s number to all accounts on a phone by default since September 2025, and many users are only learning about it now through unprompted emails confirming that their number has been verified.
Google’s support documentation says the number is verified automatically during setup and added to every account on the phone, including work and secondary accounts. Verification enables features such as account recovery and RCS messaging, but Google does not explain why the number needs to be added to every account.
When the Change Took Effect
The documentation was amended sometime between August and October 2025 to state that verification is on by default. A Google Play services changelog dated September 8, 2025 lists number verification as running automatically on setup. The notification emails, however, arrived much later, which is why the practice is only now drawing wider attention.
What Happens to Linked Numbers
According to Google’s support page, the link covers existing and future accounts and numbers alike:
A Google account added later will pick up every number on the phone.
Switching SIM cards puts the new number on every account.
Google and your carrier re-verify numbers periodically, which can incur carrier charges.
The setting can only be managed from the phone itself.
Turning verification on also enables Better sharing on Google for one of the signed-in accounts. Google says this supports video calls, messages, and notifications for content sent to the number, such as photos. Phone number sign-in, finding a lost device, emergency location services, and Quick Share also depend on a verified number.
In October 2025, a month after automatic verification arrived, Google introduced Sign in with Mobile Number, an Android recovery tool that identifies the Google accounts linked to a phone number and lets the owner back in using the lock screen passcode from their previous device. Google’s account help pages also describe a Better ads & Google services setting that uses a phone number across Google services to show more relevant ads. The same page says any verified number on an Android device can be added to any Google account signed into it, though Google has not said which ads setting applies to numbers attached automatically.
How to Turn Off Phone Number Verification
To stop the linking on your Android phone:
Open Settings > Google > All services.
Under Privacy & security, select Phone number verification.
Turn off Verify phone numbers automatically.
Some phones label the Google section Google services and preferences instead.
Turning this off does not apply retrospectively. Numbers already attached must be removed manually by navigating to Personal info > Phone in each account’s Google settings.
What You Give Up by Disabling Verification
Disabling verification also means losing RCS chats in Google Messages, which pushes conversations back to SMS. Google’s Messages help pages show that RCS waits on phone number verification before it connects. That trade-off carries more weight now that end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging began rolling out between Android phones and iPhones in May.
A number with verification turned off also cannot be used for quick account recovery.
Google’s Stance on Your Data
Google says it does not sell personal data, including phone numbers, to anyone. In May, it also said it was testing a policy in select regions that gives new Google accounts only 5GB of free storage unless a phone number is linked, down from the usual 15GB.
For now, the setting remains on by default. Checking it takes less than a minute, and doing so puts the decision about your Android phone number back in your hands.
