Why Google is linking your phone number to all your signed-in accounts

Android users, listen up: Google is quietly verifying and attaching your phone number across all your signed-in Google accounts, according to reporting from Android Authority. The policy change happened between August and October of 2025, under the "Verify phone numbers automatically" setting, which must now be opted out of rather than opted into.What does this mean in practice? All Google accounts used on your phone are going to be associated with your phone number, whether you want them to be…