How to change my primary gmail account in Android phone

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Santanu Chatterjee

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Jan 10, 2011, 8:08:04 AM1/10/11
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Hello Everybody,

I am new to Android. I am not quite sure how secure my account info is
in my Android (2.2) phone. I wonder if other 3rd party apps (that I
installed) can get hold of that info and send it somewhere without my
knowledge.

Hence, I would like to use a dedicated gmail account as my primary
account for the phone.

Hence, I would like to know if there is a way to change the primary
gmail account info in my phone preferably without doing a factory
reset.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Regards,
Santanu

Insha

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Jan 10, 2011, 1:09:36 PM1/10/11
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What kind of phone do you have? I can tell you how it's done in my Android phone (the Samsung Captivate). Tap the far left menu button, then Settings, then Accounts & Sync. The accounts that you have setup will be listed there. Mine has my gmail account, my Facebook account, & my Twitter account. You can delete any of those accounts by selecting it, then tap Remove Account. To add a different account, tap Add Account.




~ Insha ~

Santanu Chatterjee

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Jan 10, 2011, 1:37:11 PM1/10/11
to Gmail-Users
On Jan 10, 11:09 pm, Insha <insha.gro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> *What kind of phone do you have? I can tell you how it's done in my Android
> phone (the Samsung Captivate). Tap the far left menu button, then Settings,
> then Accounts & Sync. The accounts that you have setup will be listed there.
> Mine has my gmail account, my Facebook account, & my Twitter account. You
> can delete any of those accounts by selecting it, then tap Remove Account.
> To add a different account, tap Add Account.

Thank you for the reply.
I have an LG Optimus One (P500). What you said works for my phone too.
But the problem is that it only works if it is not the primary gmail
account that I am trying to delete. If it the primary gmail account,
it say says that the account information is being used by other
applications and in order to delete that account, I would have to do a
factory reset.

-Santanu

Ryan Morehart

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Jan 10, 2011, 2:59:38 PM1/10/11
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The message is correct. Your main Google account is used by the phone
for more than just email, so you do have to reset it:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5889005_change-primary-gmail-account-android.html

Ryan

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Insha

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Jan 10, 2011, 6:26:35 PM1/10/11
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Have you tried to add a 2nd account first, then set it as primary, then delete the first one?




~ Insha ~


Santanu Chatterjee

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Jan 11, 2011, 8:41:13 AM1/11/11
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On Jan 11, 4:26 am, Insha <insha.gro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> *Have you tried to add a 2nd account first, then set it as primary, then
> delete the first one?
> *

Yes. Does not work, although I can delete my second account without
any problems.

@Ryan Morehart: I guess there is no other way than to do a factory
reset as suggested by you. The method given in the link provided by
you, and the others that I found by myself did not work for me.

Regards,
Santanu

Insha

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Jan 11, 2011, 9:17:06 AM1/11/11
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Wow that seems drastic. I would try searching around the xda forum for your phone. Those xda people are geniuses & the forums are awesome. The forums for your phone are here:
Santanu

Ryan Morehart

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Jan 12, 2011, 5:56:35 PM1/12/11
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A factory reset really isn't that bad most of the time. You'll lose
your saved text messages, but your contacts are tied to your Google
account (so you'd have to add the old one back for it to sync those)
and if you have a Verizon phone then it will automatically pull down
the same apps again. If you don't, then something like Titanium Backup
can backup and restore all your apps.

Ryan

Santanu Chatterjee

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Jan 13, 2011, 11:37:37 AM1/13/11
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On Jan 11, 7:17 pm, Insha <insha.gro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> *Wow that seems drastic. I would try searching around the xda forum for your
> phone. Those xda people are geniuses & the forums are awesome. The forums
> for your phone are here:*
> *http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=836
> *

I will in fact try out relevant messages posted at xda forum. But this
time at least, a factory reset was not too much of a hassle for me
since it has only been a few days (8th Jan) since I have purchased
this phone. Have not yet installed many apps, or changed much on the
phone.

-Santanu

Insha

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Jan 13, 2011, 10:36:27 AM1/13/11
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What would a factory reset do to a rooted phone? Would you have to root it/update it again? I know this is OT but I was just curious. Mine is rooted & upgraded to Android 2.2. I don't have a need to restore but I was just wondering for the future :)



~ Insha ~

Sarah Hill

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Jan 14, 2011, 7:40:19 AM1/14/11
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Depends on various things.
Not really the place for this type of question.
Read the Forums on that subject for your phone...plenty of good info out there & people who will answer your questions.

--

Megan Kato

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Oct 3, 2013, 10:25:27 AM10/3/13
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I have the same question. I have the ZTE Merit (through net10) but I have no idea how to change my account information.

Alex

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Oct 18, 2013, 5:47:25 PM10/18/13
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Go to settings

pxk

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Jan 8, 2014, 9:24:41 PM1/8/14
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Change Primary Account on Gmail Android. No need to uninstall, it's quick and easy.
 
Press the Gmail app with your finger and then drag to "trash can" (do not uninstall the app). Once gone, hold your finger on the screen, choose widgets and then gmail, once the Gmail appears on screen you can select your primary account. Just takes about 20 - 30 seconds.
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