How to add a second user or a guest on Android
2 min read · 5 steps · Updated 2 October 2026
Open Settings, tap System and tap Multiple users. Switch on Allow multiple users, then tap Add user. For a short loan of the phone, choose the guest instead. Each user has a separate home screen, apps and accounts.
If you share a phone or tablet with a child or partner, a second user keeps their apps and accounts apart from yours. A guest is for lending the phone briefly: the guest sees none of your messages, photos or files.
Menu names below are from Google Pixel phones on a recent Android version. Samsung, Xiaomi and other brands rename some of them. The pictures are simplified diagrams of the screen, not screenshots.
Step by step
Open Settings and tap System
Then tap Multiple users. Not every phone has this menu. Some makers leave it out on phones and offer it on tablets only.
Switch on Allow multiple users
The other choices appear below it.
Tap Add user
Give the user a name. The new user then sets up the space with a Google Account of their own, like a new phone.
Switch between users
Swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap the user icon. Choose the user.
Lend the phone as a guest
In the same place choose the guest. When the guest is finished, switch back to yourself.
Good to know
Files and messages are not shared between users. Some settings, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, apply to everyone.
A new user cannot make phone calls until the owner allows it. Tap the user in Multiple users and switch on Turn on phone calls.
To remove a user: Settings, System, Multiple users, tap the name, then Delete user. Everything in that space is erased.
To hand over the phone for one app only, app pinning is quicker: how to let someone use one app only on Android with app pinning.
In short: Settings, System, Multiple users, allow, Add user or guest. Switch through the quick settings.
- Pixel Phone Help: Delete, switch or add users
Rules and prices change. Check the official source before you act.