Android phones have been attaching their SIM's phone number to every signed-in Google account on that device for more than a year. Google's support documentation says that it verifies the number automatically during setup and adds it to every account on the phone, including work and secondary accounts. According to Google, verification enables features like account recovery and RCS messaging, but the company doesn't explain why the number needs to be added to every account.

Android Authority found that the Google documentation in question was amended sometime between August and October 2025 to say that verification is on by default, while a Google Play services changelog dated September 8, 2025 lists number verification as running automatically on setup. However, plenty of folks are only now finding out, after unprompted emails from noreply-phone-verification@google.com began arriving to tell them their number had been verified.

According to Google's support page, the link covers existing and future accounts and numbers alike. In other words, a Google account that's added later will pick up every number on the phone, while switching SIM cards also puts the new number on every account. Google and your carrier also re-verify those numbers periodically, which can incur carrier charges, and the setting can only be managed from the phone itself.

It's a bit of an awkward situation, because turning verification on also enables Better sharing on Google for one of the signed-in account. Google says this supports video calls, messages and notifications for content sent to the number, such as photos.

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