Question About "Link this device to my Google account.". Is it permanent?

[yukichi]

About the "Link this device to my Google account." option. If checked, and say after a couple months, I decide to sell the phone and do a hard reset of the phone... when the buyer picks up the phone and turns it on, will it show my google name and account and just prompt for password?

The documentation (Linking your Nexus 7 to your Google account during purchasing - Google Play Help.) says "When you link a Nexus 7 to your Google account, we'll automatically send your name and username to the device when you first power it on. "

Is that literally only the first time? Or is it even if you reset the phone to factory settings?

 

[howarmat]

pretty sure its just that first boot and that its not permanently linked. I think the kindles are the same way from amazon.

 

[yukichi]

If someone with a nexus device that they also had checked this option... if its possible to do a "Factory Reset" or something, then reboot the device to see if it says "Hello __YourName__", if it does... I would be pretty freaked. Sure you have to put in the password, but the fact that your email may end up in some stranger's mailing list as your phone gets sold, resold, etc. just seems a little bit scary to me.

 

[yukichi]

Can someone who has received a device who had checked this option do the above for me and post whether the device says something along the lines of "Hello __yourname___" even if you factory reset it?

 

[Andrew Martonik]

It just links it so you don't have to set it up on your first boot up. Similar to what Amazon does with its Kindles.

You can always unlink and remove accounts from devices. Factory resetting it and removing it from the Google Play Store settings will disassociate the device with your account.