How to check your Google Activity history and how to delete it

If you’re using an Android smartphone and Google’s services then you’re probably aware that the company keeps track of your activities, which in turn allows it to serve you with personalized content and ads. However, if you’re concerned about your privacy and how Google handles your data, there’s a way to check your Google Activity history and delete it if you want to.

The first thing that you need to do is go to https://myactivity.google.com/ and make sure that your Google account is logged in.

From here you can see the activities that Google tracks which are organized into three categories:

• Web & App Activity – Saves your activity on Google sites and apps, including associated info like location, to give you faster searches, better recommendations, and more personalized experiences in Maps, Search, and other Google services.

• Location History – Saves where you go with your devices, even when you aren’t using a specific Google service, to give you personalized maps, recommendations based on places you’ve visited, and more.

• YouTube History – Saves the YouTube videos you watch and the things you search for on YouTube to give you better recommendations, remember where you left off, and more.

How to delete your Google Activity

The dashboard presents you with a consolidated timeline of your activities. It shows the apps you used on your devices, as well as Google searches and websites you visited using those searches. If you’re using Google Maps to search for a location, it’s here as well.

From here, you can delete all of your activities based on time. It could be from the last hour, last day, All time, or input a custom range. But if you want to do it by category, just click on any of them and it will bring you to another dashboard. Choose Manage at the bottom and opt to delete your activity history

How to turn off Google Activity tracking

Let’s say you have already deleted your activity history and don’t want Google to keep track of it. Well, there’s also a way to turn it off.

When you’re in the dashboard of a specific category, you will see a “Turn off” button. Click on it and Google will ask for your confirmation to “Pause” the tracking. All you got to do is confirm by clicking Pause.

According to Google, turning off activity tracking will limit or disable more personalized experiences across Google services. For example, you may stop seeing more relevant search results or recommendations about places you care about.

Turn off Location History, and you may not see recommendations based on places you’ve visited or helpful tips about your commute.

Turn off YouTube History, and you will not see recommendations for content or creators based on videos you watch or search for, and you may also get recommendations for videos you’ve already watched.

How to Auto-delete your Google Activity

If the scenario is you still want Google to track your activity but you want it to delete it after a certain period, you can do that as well with auto-delete. Just click on the category and click on the auto-delete option.

You have the option to auto-delete activity that is older than 3, 8, or 36 months.

This is a good option if you want Google to continue providing you with a personalized experience for its services but don’t want it to keep your old data.