Published January 25, 2022
An activation lock prevents someone else from gaining access to your phone should it be lost or stolen. If you're returning, replacing or selling your phone the lock should be disabled beforehand. If the activation lock is not removed from the phone it renders the phone unusable to anyone other than yourself.
Removing an account does not delete any data from your Google Account, your device will simply stop syncing data.
If you are unable to complete the steps above, you would also be able to remove the Google Account from the phone by accessing your Google Account online.