diff --git a/services/identity/src/database/device_list.rs b/services/identity/src/database/device_list.rs
--- a/services/identity/src/database/device_list.rs
+++ b/services/identity/src/database/device_list.rs
@@ -1302,14 +1302,19 @@
   }
 
   /// applies updated device list received from primary device
-  pub async fn apply_devicelist_update(
+  pub async fn apply_devicelist_update<V>(
     &self,
     user_id: &str,
     update: DeviceListUpdate,
     // A function that receives previous and new device IDs and
     // returns boolean determining if the new device list is valid.
-    validator_fn: impl Fn(&[&str], &[&str]) -> bool,
-  ) -> Result<DeviceListRow, Error> {
+    validator_fn: Option<V>,
+    // Whether to remove device data when a device is removed from the list.
+    remove_device_data: bool,
+  ) -> Result<DeviceListRow, Error>
+  where
+    V: Fn(&[&str], &[&str]) -> bool,
+  {
     use std::collections::HashSet;
 
     let new_list = update.devices.clone();
@@ -1325,11 +1330,14 @@
           current_list.iter().map(AsRef::as_ref).collect();
         let new_device_ids: Vec<&str> =
           new_list.iter().map(AsRef::as_ref).collect();
-        if !validator_fn(&previous_device_ids, &new_device_ids) {
-          warn!("Received invalid device list update");
-          return Err(Error::DeviceList(
-            DeviceListError::InvalidDeviceListUpdate,
-          ));
+
+        if let Some(validate) = validator_fn {
+          if !validate(&previous_device_ids, &new_device_ids) {
+            warn!("Received invalid device list update");
+            return Err(Error::DeviceList(
+              DeviceListError::InvalidDeviceListUpdate,
+            ));
+          }
         }
 
         // collect device IDs that were removed
@@ -1346,6 +1354,10 @@
       })
       .await?;
 
+    if !remove_device_data {
+      return Ok(update_result);
+    }
+
     // delete device data and invalidate CSAT for removed devices
     debug!(
       "{} devices have been removed from device list. Clearing data...",
diff --git a/services/identity/src/grpc_services/authenticated.rs b/services/identity/src/grpc_services/authenticated.rs
--- a/services/identity/src/grpc_services/authenticated.rs
+++ b/services/identity/src/grpc_services/authenticated.rs
@@ -716,13 +716,11 @@
 
     let new_list = SignedDeviceList::try_from(request.into_inner())?;
     let update = DeviceListUpdate::try_from(new_list)?;
+    let validator =
+      crate::device_list::validation::update_device_list_rpc_validator;
     self
       .db_client
-      .apply_devicelist_update(
-        &user_id,
-        update,
-        crate::device_list::validation::update_device_list_rpc_validator,
-      )
+      .apply_devicelist_update(&user_id, update, Some(validator), true)
       .await
       .map_err(handle_db_error)?;