5 Ways to Add Google Account in Android Without Syncing

Key Highlights

• When you add a Google account on your Android phone, it syncs emails, contacts, photos, calendars, files, and more.
• You may not want that if you’re setting up a separate work phone from your personal one.
• Thankfully, you can log into a new user account on your phone or use features like Second Space to prevent this.

Method 1: Quickly Disable Sync

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 has synced. That’s stupid. To avoid syncing things from Google, disable sync quickly.

Step 1: Start the process of adding a Google account from Android settings.

Step 2: When you reach the last step after entering your password, enable Airplane mode on your phone from the quick settings panel.

Step 3: Once enabled, return to the newly added Google Accounts page > Settings > Accounts. Then, choose the new Google account.

Step 4: Tap on Account sync or Sync account. Turn off the toggles or uncheck the boxes next to the items you don’t want to sync.

Step 5: Turn off Airplane mode after performing these steps.

Method 2: Disable Apps

If you turn off sync for Gmail, the only thing that will stop are the notifications. You won’t be notified about new emails. But if someone opens the Gmail app, they can still see your Google account there. And the new emails will automatically populate by opening the app.

If you don’t want the app to access your personal data, disable it. This will stop it from showing up on your home screen or in the app drawer. Of course, that would mean parting away with other Google accounts, too. If you are okay with that, disable it in the following way.

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

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

Also Read: How to remove an account from Google Photos

Method 3: Use Multiple Users

If you want to keep data separate for two Google accounts, and that was the reason you stopped syncing, create a new user account on your Android phone.

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

Even though this is not a proper 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 easy.

Step 1: Go to Settings > System > Multiple users.

Step 2: Tap on Add user.

Method 4: Use Second Space in MIUI

If you own a Xiaomi/Redmi/Poco phone running MIUI, you are in luck. The Second Space feature allows you to share your installed apps with other users without sharing your data.

Step 1: Open the Settings app and look for Second Space using the search bar.

Step 2: Tap on Turn on Second space.

Method 5: Use Google Play Family Sharing

Sometimes, we want to share our purchased data from Google Play, such as apps, movies, games, TV shows, etc., with someone else. For that, typically, we would add our Google account on their device. Evidently, it will sync everything.

As an alternative, you can use Google Play Family sharing. It lets you share your purchased Google Play data with up to 5 family members. They can do that by using their Google account. So basically, you don’t need to add your Google account, thus saving you from syncing anything.