On Sun, 8 Nov 2020 20:47:51 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:

I don't know. Surely it is possible to have a contact list without it
being stored by Google?

Yes, just turn off all the syncing with in the google account on the
phone. Preferably before you've uploaded/restored your
contacts/calendar/etc to the phone. Then never do or set off manual
sync for that account.

Deleting the google account will definitely break the link to google
but I have feeling the phone will complian about not being able to
"phone home" and it may affect your access to the playstore.

--
Cheers
Dave.