How to factory reset an Android device with Family Link

What’s the use case? #

Kid got a new phone, you want to factory-reset the old one before you do something else with it. But when an Android device has Family Link supervision enabled, the option to factory-reset the device is blocked with an “action not allowed” error.

Don’t stop supervision #

One of the ways to do this is to stop the supervision on the child’s Google account altogether. For me, this isn’t what I want to do as I do want to keep supervising my kid’s other Android devices.

Steps needed to factory-reset an Android device #

Log-out from the child’s account on the device #

When logged in to your child’s account in a browser, go to https://myaccount.google.com/. Security -> your devices -> pick the required device -> click on ‘sign out’.

Remove the child’s account from the device #

On the device, remove your child’s account from the device. See instructions here.

Remove the ‘Family Link parental controls’ app #

Now that the device isn’t managed by Family Link, you can remove this app.

Factory-reset #

Your Android device can now be reset to its factory settings.