Yeah, sure, it's acceptable to spam me because it's only a couple spams a month. No problems there.
Let me describe the process I went through.
1) Search forums for solution to the problem. It turns out it's not possible.
2) Search for a way to disable SMS texts for my phone.
3) Moto E second generation, follow instructions online, whoops, doesn't match the menus I have.
4) It turns out that you need the new version of messenger to block SMS messages.
5) Try to login to play store. Password refused.
6) Log in to gmail. Password refused.
7) Start password recovery process. Old password matches, but Google refuses it. Send confirmation code to old email.
😎 Enter confirmation code. Pass 5 minutes wading through "new features" messages. Re-enter old password.
9) Re-enter password on phone. Login works.
10) Search for messenger app version that works.
11) Install new messenger app version.
12) Please wait, you need to update the play store to use the new messenger version.
13) App finally installed.
14) Remove old app, replace by new app.
15) Go through all the spams I've received by public mobile. Looks like "5129", "611", "100" thus far.
16) Go through menus to block all those numbers. Report the numbers as SPAM.
17) Try to remove account from Play Store. It won't let me.
18) Search for ways to remove account in Play Store. It's possible but it'll delete everything on the phone as well.
19) Search for ways to disable Play Store. Told to go to Settings->Apps, but warned it might not work.
20) Disable Play Store from settings. Won't let me do it fully, but ask if I want to reinstall factory version.
21) Reinstall factory version of Play store. Account appears to be gone.
22) I may or may not be tracked by Google anymore. No ways to know.
Another hour lost to work around this problem and phone privacy compromised. Thanks Public Mobile!
