In the past, if you lost your Android phone or someone stole it, they could easily bypass the lock with a quick factory reset. To fix this, Google introduced the Google verification feature or Factory Reset Protection, starting with Android 5.0.
Google Factory Reset Protection (FRP)
The FRP is a feature and protection system to make the phone like a worthless piece of glass, making it difficult, if not nearly impossible, for a thief to bypass the protection and use the phone. In simpler words, the phone will be unusable in any way.
Indeed, it is more than a great feature, but there is one negativity. If the owner of the phone forgets the password, the phone will prevent you from being able to use it under any circumstances. Then your phone will be useless until you remember all the details of the log-in settings.
What Is Google Factory Reset Protection (FRP)?
Factory Reset Protection (FRP) from Google is a built-in security feature on Android devices with OS Version 5.1 to Android 13. FRP is automatically enabled when you set up a Google account on your Android device for the first time. The main goal behind this feature is that FRP prevents someone who tries to reset your phone from getting past the initial setup screen. If thieves know that they will not benefit from your phone in any way, they will rarely think of stealing it because the phone will be unusable to them at all. So, it’s an anti-theft measure that reduces the incentive to steal the device in the first place. To use the phone and factory reset it, one (or the thief) has to log in using the Google account login details, the Google username, and the password previously set up on the device.
How to bypass FRP on your Android phone?
As mentioned, FRP is automatically enabled once you sign in to your phone using your Google account. To disable it, all you need to do is remove the Google account from your Android device. You should always do it if you plan to sell or give away your phone, or if you’re buying a second-hand device, check that the seller has removed their Google account before you buy it. These are the steps to remove a Google account from the device:
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down to Accounts.
- Select Google Account
- Click on the three-dotted button and tap on Remove account or Sign Out.
- Enter the details that you previously used to set up the account and click Continue.
Another method tested on Xiaomi phones:
- Open the Gmail email application
- Click on the account picture from the top right corner
- Tap on Manage accounts on this device
- Select the Google account and choose the account you want to delete and then click on it
- Click More, and from the pop-up menu, choose Remove Account
- Note: this method removes Google Factory Reset Protection only and has nothing to do with unlocking the phone.
How to Bypass Google Account Verification
Unfortunately, there is no official way to bypass Google account verification since it is an essential security feature to protect the phone in case of stolen. You can consider using some unlocking software found online to bypass Google protection on Android, although we are not sure how well it works. Some of these programs claim to be able to quickly unlock the screen by removing the Android phone PIN, password, fingerprint, and pattern. So, if you bought a secondhand phone, we recommend making sure the previous owner has unlocked it, so you can smoothly use it and set up your Google account.
Bypassing Google account verification isn’t easy. It requires more than factory resetting an Android device to unlock it, as you will not be able to factory reset it until after entering your account data on the phone. It will be a big problem if you forget this data or want to sell your phone and do not remove your Google account because the new owner will not be able to get rid of it in any way.
