Android Is Linking Your SIM Number to Every Google Account

Android phones have been attaching the phone number of their SIM to every Google account signed in on the device for more than a year. According to Google's support documentation, the number is verified automatically during setup and added to all accounts on the phone, including work and secondary ones.

Google says verification enables features such as account recovery and RCS messaging, but it does not explain why the number must be added to every account. The documentation was amended between August and October 2025 to state that verification is on by default, and a Google Play services changelog dated September 8, 2025 lists number verification as running automatically on setup. Many users are only now noticing, after emails from noreply-phone-verification@google.com told them their number had been verified.

How the linking works

The link covers existing and future accounts and numbers alike. A Google account added later picks up every number on the phone, and switching SIM cards puts the new number on every account. Google and carriers re-verify numbers periodically, which can incur carrier charges, and 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. Phone number sign-in, finding a lost device, emergency location services and Quick Share depend on a verified number. Google also describes a Better ads & Google services setting that uses a phone number across its services, but it has not said which ads setting applies to numbers attached automatically.

How to turn it off

Open Settings > Google > All services, then under Privacy & security choose Phone number verification and switch off Verify phone numbers automatically. Some phones label the section Google services and preferences.

Disabling it is not retroactive. Numbers already attached must be removed by hand under Personal info > Phone in each account's Google settings. Kaspersky notes that turning verification off also means losing RCS chats in Google Messages, which fall back to SMS, and that the number can no longer be used for quick account recovery. That matters more now that end-to-end encrypted RCS between Android and iPhone began rolling out in May.

Google says it does not sell personal data, including phone numbers. In May, it also said it was testing a policy in select regions that gives new accounts only 5GB of free storage, instead of 15GB, unless a phone number is linked.