GardionBought a phone with someone else’s Family Link
You bought your child a second-hand phone, and inside there is someone else’s Google account with Family Link switched on. The first urge is a factory reset, and that is exactly the wrong move: after the reset the phone will demand the previous account and turn into a brick. Here is how to get out of this step by step, and how to avoid it next time.
Why a reset does not help
Android has Factory Reset Protection. It was built against thieves: if a phone is reset without removing the Google account, on first boot the device demands a sign-in to that same previous account.
For a second-hand buyer this means one simple thing: a reset does not detach the stranger’s account — it locks the device onto it. You do not have the password, and setup will not go past the sign-in screen. Recent Android versions enforce this protection more strictly than before.
The one reliable path goes through the seller
Only the owner of the parent account can remove Family Link and detach the account, from their own app. It takes minutes remotely, so an honest seller has no reason to refuse. Ask for three things:
- 1
Stop Family Link supervision
The seller opens their Family Link app and stops supervision for the sold device. Remote, takes a couple of minutes.
- 2
Remove the device from the Google account
On their Google account’s devices page, the seller removes the sold phone from the list.
- 3
Remove their account from the phone
If the account was still on the device, the seller removes it remotely — after that the phone lets you through as well.
After that, reboot the phone, remove any remaining accounts in settings — this now works without a password — and only then do a factory reset. A clean phone greets you with the ordinary setup wizard.
The seller does not respond
If you bought on a marketplace with purchase protection, open a dispute: a phone tied to a stranger’s account is a legitimate reason for a refund. Return the device while the dispute window is open.
Ads promising to “unlock Family Link for a small fee” are a trap. At best they charge you for what you can do yourself; at worst they ask for passwords or vanish with the money. An honest third-party way to detach someone else’s account does not exist: this is Google’s protection, and service kiosks cannot get around it.
How to check a phone before buying
Ask the seller to remove all accounts in settings in front of you and run a factory reset. Then switch the phone on and walk the first setup screens: if it asks for Wi-Fi and then calmly offers to create or enter any account, the device is clean.
A phone that demands one specific previous account after a reset is not worth buying at any discount.
If it is your own old control
It also happens without strangers: a phone passes from the older child to the younger one, and Family Link stays from the previous setup. Then everything resolves from your own parent account: stop supervision, remove the device, set it up again. The step-by-step walkthrough is in the Family Link guide.
Questions parents ask
Not hopeless, but there is one path: reach the previous owner so they remove the device from their Google account. After that the phone lets you into normal setup. Without the account owner there is no legitimate solution.
No. An honest third-party way to remove Google’s protection does not exist. You risk losing money and data, and the phone stays locked.
Not fully. The one reliable check is a factory reset done in front of you, followed by the first setup screens. For a remote deal, demand a video of that process and buy only with purchase protection.
Same road: only the owner of the parent dashboard can remove it. Ask the seller to delete the device from their dashboard — after that a normal reset cleans the phone.
Setting up the phone for your child afterwards
Once the phone is clean, Gardion covers it in a couple of minutes: limits, a schedule and location on Android, with the computer in the same dashboard. The child sees the protection openly — no hidden mode.
See how Gardion works