Google collects a frightening amount of data about you. You can find and delete it now
Google will auto-delete the data - for some users - but only after a year and a half. You can do better than that. We'll show you how.
Google may collect a lot more personal data about its users than you can imagine. The company records every search you make and every YouTube video you watch. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, Google Maps shows you wherever you go, the routes you use to get there and how long you stay - even if you've never opened the app. When you take a closer look at what Google knows about you, the results can be eye-opening, and maybe even a little disturbing. Thankfully, you can do something about it.
Starting June, new Google Accounts will automatically delete personal data for you. But by default only after 18 months. And only if you're a brand new Google user. That's great if you're just deciding to create a Gmail address or just got your first Android phone, but if you're among the 1.5 billion people on Gmail or the 2.5 billion people who already use Android, then Your account is set to hold your personal data on forever unless you tell Google otherwise.
We're going to break down all the clutter and show you how to access the personal data Google has about you, as well as how to delete some or all of it. Then we're going to help you find the right balance between your privacy and the Google services you trust, by choosing settings that limit Google's access to your information without impairing your experience.
Find out what personal information Google considers 'public'
Chances are, Google knows your name, your face, your birthday, gender, other email addresses you use, your password, and your phone number. Some of this is listed as public information (certainly not your password). Here's a look at what Google shares about you with the world.
1. Open a browser window and navigate to your Google Account page.
2. Type your Google username (with or without "@gmail.com").
3. From the menu bar, select Personal Information and review the information. You can change or delete your photo, name, birthday, gender, password, other emails, and phone numbers.
4. If you want to see which of your information is publicly available, scroll down and select About Me.
5. On this page, each row is labeled with either the people icon (visible to anyone), the office building icon (visible only to your organization), or the lock icon (visible only to you). Select an item to choose whether to make it public, semi-public, or private. There is currently no way to make your account completely private.
Take a look at Google's record of your online activity
If you want to see the basics of the data Google holds, follow these steps to find it, review it, delete it, or set it to be deleted automatically after a period of time.
If your goal is to have more control over your data, but you still want Google services like Search and Maps to personalize your results, we recommend that you auto-delete your data after three months. Otherwise, feel free to delete all your data and set Google to stop tracking you. You won't even notice a difference in most of the day-to-day tasks you do with Google.
1. Sign in to your Google Account and select Data & Personalization from the navigation bar.
2. To see a list of all your activities logged by Google, scroll down to Activity controls and select Web & App Activity. This is where all your Google searches, YouTube viewing history, Google Assistant commands, and other interactions with Google apps and services are recorded.
3. To turn it off completely, move the toggle to the OFF position. But be careful – changing this setting will render almost any Google Assistant device you use, including the Google Home and Google Nest smart speakers and displays, unusable.
4. If you want Google to stop tracking only your Chrome browser history and activity on sites that you sign in to with your Google Account, uncheck the box first. If you don't want Google to keep audio recordings of your interactions with the Google Assistant, uncheck the second box. Otherwise, go to step 5.
5. To set Google to either never or automatically delete this type of data every three or 18 months, select Auto-delete and choose the time frame you're most comfortable with. Huh. Google will immediately delete any existing data older than the time frame you specify. For example, if you choose three months, any information older than three months will be deleted immediately.
6. Once you select the auto-delete setting, a popup will appear and ask you to confirm. Select Delete or Confirm.
7. Next, click on Manage Activity. This page displays all the information Google has organized from the activities mentioned in the previous steps, by date, the day you created your account or the last time you purged this list.
8. To delete specific days, select the trash can icon to the right of the day, and then select Done. To get more specific details or to delete individual items, select the three stacked dots icon next to the item, and then choose Delete or Details.
9. If you want to delete part or all of your history manually, select the three stacked dots icon to the right of the search bar at the top of the page and then select Delete Activity, then Last Hour, Last Day, All chose one. time or custom range.
10. To make sure your new settings are taken, go back to Manage Activity (Step 4) and make sure that whatever is there goes back only in the three or 18 months you chose in Step 5.
Access Google's records of your location history
Perhaps even more than Google knowing what recipe you're making, what vacation destination you're interested in, or how often you check Powerball numbers, the accuracy of Google's record of your whereabouts can be downright nifty. Never do anything that you shouldn't.
If you're signed in to Google Maps on a mobile device, Google is tracking your every move. This is enough to force you to leave your phone at home. Thankfully, this is unnecessary. Here's how to access, manage, and delete your Google Location data:
1. Sign in to your Google Account and select Data & Personalization from the navigation bar.
2. To see a list of all your location data logged by Google, scroll down to Activity controls and select Location History.
3. If you want Google to stop tracking your location, turn off the toggle on this page.
4. To set Google to automatically delete this type of data, either every three or 18 months, select Auto-delete, then choose the time frame you're most comfortable with. Google will delete any existing data older than the time frame you specify. For example, if you choose three months, any information older than three months will be deleted immediately.
5. Once you select the auto-delete setting, a popup will appear and ask you to confirm. Select Delete or Confirm.
6. Next, click on Manage Activity. This page displays all of the location information that Google has collected on you in the form of a timeline and map, including the places you've visited, the way you get there and back, as well as the frequency and dates of visits. Huh.
7. To permanently delete all location history, click the trash can icon in the lower right corner and select Delete Location History when prompted. To delete individual trips, select a point on the map or a bar on the timeline, then, on the next page, click the trash can icon next to the trip you want to delete.
8. To make sure your location data really doesn't disappear, start with the Activity controls in Step 2, then after Manage Activity in Step 4, make sure the Timeline in the top left corner is blank and the Maps There is no point at which your previous location.
Manage your YouTube search and watch history
YouTube saves your search history as well as a list of every video you've ever watched while signed in to your Google account.
Of all the personal data Google tracks, your YouTube search and viewing history is probably the most intuitive. Not only that, allowing Google to track your YouTube history may have the most obvious benefit of all – it helps YouTube figure out what types of videos you like so that it can track what you like. able to exclude more types of material.
Here's how to view your YouTube history and, if you prefer, how to delete it manually or at three- or 18-month intervals. Just like with web and app activity, we recommend setting up YouTube to purge your data every three months. That's enough that YouTube's recommendations will stay fresh, but don't leave behind a year-old trail of personal data.
1. Sign in to your Google Account and select Data & Personalization from the navigation bar.
2. To see a list of all your YouTube data logged by Google, scroll down to Activity controls and select YouTube History.
3. If you want Google to stop tracking your YouTube search and viewing history altogether, turn off the toggle on this page. To prevent Google from tracking only the videos you watch or only your searches, uncheck the appropriate box.
4. To set Google to either never or automatically delete your YouTube data every three or 18 months, select Auto-delete and choose the time frame you're most comfortable with. Google will delete any existing data older than the time frame you specify. For example, if you choose three months, any information older than three months will be deleted immediately.
5. Once you select the auto-delete setting, a popup will appear and ask you to confirm. Select Delete or Confirm.
6. Next, click on Manage Activity. This is where every search you do and every video you watch is listed.
7. To delete specific days, select the trash can icon to the right of the day, and then select Done. To get more specific details or to remove individual items, select the three stacked dots icon and then choose Delete or Details.
8. If you want to delete part or all of your history manually, select the three stacked dots icon to the right of the search bar at the top of the page and then select Delete Activity, then Last Hour, Last Day, All chose one. time or custom range.
9. To make sure your YouTube data really doesn't disappear, start with the Activity controls in Step 2, then Manage Activity in Step 4 to make sure whatever it is (if you deleted it) so nothing should happen) only goes back to the three or 18 months you chose in step 5.
One more important thing about your privacy
Be careful, just because you've set Google not to track your online or offline activity, doesn't mean you've turned off your data for Google entirely. Google has acknowledged that it can track your physical location, even if you turn off Location Services, using information gathered from Wi-Fi and other wireless signals near your phone. Plus, just like Facebook has been guilty of doing this for years, Google doesn't even require you to sign in to track you.
Not to mention, there sometimes seems to be a contradiction between Google's statements on privacy issues. For example, Google admits to scanning your Gmail messages to compile your shopping list, despite publicly declaring in a 2018 press release, "To be quite clear: No one on Google will use your email address." does not read Gmail, except in very specific cases where you ask and consent to us, or where we need it for security purposes, such as to investigate bugs or abuse." Perhaps Google meant "no human" by "none", but in the age of increasingly powerful AI, such a distinction is controversial.
The point is, it's ultimately up to you to protect yourself from invasive data practices. These eight smartphone apps can help you manage your passwords and obfuscate your browser data, along with participating in a few other privacy-related tasks. If you have a Google Home smart speaker in your home, here's how to manage your privacy with Google Assistant.
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