Top 5 Ways to Add Google Account on Android without Syncing

Have you noticed that your contacts appear on another Android phone? This can be quite confusing at first. The answer to this question is simple. If you signed in to another Android phone using your Google account, all contacts from that account will appear on that phone. In this post, we will tell you how to add a Google account without syncing data.

Even when you add someone else’s account to your Android phone, that person’s contacts will start appearing on your phone. The problem is – although Google allows you to stop syncing contacts, this option appears after the contact sync has taken place. This renders the process useless. In short, you cannot choose what you want to sync from your Google account.

But here we will describe various ways to prevent data syncing on Android when adding a Google account. Before that, let’s get the point right.

What’s the Problem with Google Sync?

When you add a Google account to your Android phone – whether it’s primary or secondary, it starts syncing everything related to that account. For example, images in emails, contacts, Google Photos, Calendar, Drive and more. Google doesn’t give you a choice. Most users now use different Google accounts to keep things separate. Syncing everything to Android phone defeats the purpose.

There can be many reasons why people stop syncing their Google data with an Android phone. For example, I don’t want the contacts from all my Google accounts to appear on my Android phone.

Similarly, when some people purchase paid apps from their account, they want to share it with others, especially their children. They do this by adding the Google account to the second device. But by doing this, all their personal data like emails, contacts and more will appear on the kids device. Now this is bad for both privacy and security.

To avoid this, you need to add a Google account without syncing everything. Let’s check out how to do this.

1. Quickly Disable Sync

As mentioned above, Google doesn’t let you choose what you want to sync and what you don’t when you add a Google account. You can disable it after the content is synced. This is pretty stupid.

To prevent syncing of Google items such as contacts before adding a Google account, you should quickly disable syncing.

Here’s how to do it.

Stage 1: Start the process of adding a Google account from Android settings as you normally would. However, when you come to the last step after entering your password, quickly enable Airplane mode on your phone from the quick settings. I recommend doing it in seconds.

step 2: Once enabled, return to the newly added Google Accounts page – Settings > Accounts.

Stage 3: Tap your Google account. Next, tap on Account sync or Sync account.

Step 4: Turn off the toggle or uncheck the box next to items you don’t want to sync with your phone. For example, if you only want to sync Gmail, enable it and turn off the rest.

Step 5: Then turn off Airplane mode from quick settings. Doing so will bring back internet services on your phone and continue syncing, but only for the options you selected.

Fly

2. Disable Apps

The problem with Google data is that apps will still access your Google account even if you disable sync in settings as shown above. Let’s take the example of Gmail.

If you turn off sync for Gmail, the only thing that will stop are notifications. That is, you will not be notified about new mails. But if the person opens the Gmail app, they can see your Google account there. And new emails will be filled automatically by opening the app.

If you do not want the application to access your personal data, you can disable it. Disabling the app will prevent it from appearing on your home screen or app drawer. Of course, that means leaving other Google accounts as well. If you are eligible for it, you can disable it as follows.

Note:

Stage 1: Open Settings on your Android phone and go to Apps & notifications or Apps.

Step 2: Under All apps, tap Gmail or any other app you want to disable.

Stage 3: Tap on Disable.

Note:

Fly: We have helpful guide on how to remove an account from Google Photos

3. Use Multiple Users

If you want to keep data separate for two Google accounts and that’s why you stopped syncing data, you can do so by creating a new user account on your Android phone. Don’t get confused.

All Android phones offer the multi-user feature where each user has a separate space on your phone linked to a completely different account. Users cannot access any of your personal data.

While this is not a viable solution to the problem, it can come in handy when you want to share your phone with your kids. Giving them a separate space with a different Google account will make life easier. And of course, you can also use method 1 to stop syncing the data you want.

To add users to your phone, go to Settings > System > Multiple users. Tap on Add user.

4. Use Second space in MIUI

If you have an Android phone running MIUI, you’re in luck. This is because you can share your installed apps with other users without sharing any of your data. It is possible with the help of the Second Space feature. This feature is not available in the multi-user feature available on other phones.

You can use this method when you want to share paid apps with your children. Simply go to Settings on your phone and create a Second Space. Next, you will be asked to select the apps that should appear in the Second Space. Select apps and switch to it. Your data selected or from another application will not be synchronized in Second Space.

5. Use Google Play Family Sharing

Sometimes apps, movies, games, TV shows, etc. that we buy from Google Play. We would like to share data such as For this we would usually add our own Google account to their device. Obviously, it will sync everything.

Alternatively, you can use the Google Play Family sharing option. It allows you to share your purchased Google Play data with up to 5 family members. They can do this using their own Google account. So basically, you don’t need to add your Google account, thus saving you from syncing anything.

With or without Google

Life would be much easier if Google provided simple checkboxes when adding new Google accounts to phones. All of this wouldn’t be needed if we had the option to choose the data we wanted to sync. But unfortunately, this is not the case. We hope someone from Google read this post and implemented something practical.

Next: Seeing a set of Google settings on your Android? Understand what they mean from our detailed guide in the next link.