Do you want to delete the data that Google keeps about you? We explain how to do it.
We don’t always think about how much data we donate to companies in exchange for targeted ads or being allowed to use their products. Don’t be alarmed: even Google has plenty of data stored about you. Every search you enter and every YouTube video you watch are neatly listed. Google Maps even keeps track of where you go, what route you used and how long you stay there.
In this article, we explain how to view this data and how to delete some of it. Google has a handy dashboard for this. In it, you can delete data that the company has already collected, prevent it from collecting more data, or have your data automatically deleted after a certain period.
This process is the same on any browser and operating system, so you can follow it on a Windows PC, Mac, or your smartphone.
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How do you delete the data Google has on you?
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Go to My Google Activity
Open your browser and go to My Google Activity.
Log in with the Google account whose data you want to view. (This is the same account you are logged into Gmail, YouTube, or Google Maps, for example).
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View your Google activity
After logging in, you will see an overview of all the activities that Google has collected from you. This may include search queries, websites visited, location data, and YouTube videos. Scroll through the list to see all the data. You can also use the search bar at the top to find specific activities.
Do you only want to see certain activities? Click on Filter by date and product. Here you can filter by YouTube, Search, Maps, or by a specific time period such as Last week.
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Delete your data
To delete your individual activities, click on the three vertical dots next to a specific activity and select Delete to delete that specific activity.
To delete all data, go to the Delete option at the top of your activity list. Click on this. A pop-up will appear with different options. You can choose to delete activities from Today, Last week, or Always Choose the option that seems best to you.
Do you want to delete all data? Then choose
Always , and then you can select which types of data (such as searches, location data) you want to delete from the list. If you want to delete everything, selectAll . -
Delete data per product
If you only want to delete the data from a specific Google application (for example, only your YouTube history or only your location data), do this as follows:
Click on Filter by date and product, select the product whose data you want to delete (such as YouTube or Google Maps). After applying the filter, follow Step 3 again to remove that data.
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Delete data from a specific period
You can also choose to delete only data from a specific period, such as from last month or from a specific year.
Click on Delete and choose Custom range. Enter the start and end dates for the period you want to delete the data from. Click on Delete to delete the selected activities for that period.
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Delete automatically after a certain period
Don’t want to manually delete your data every time? You can set Google to automatically delete your data after a certain period of 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months.
Go to Activity options.
Under each option (such as Web App Activity, Location History, YouTube History) you will find a setting for Automatic deletion.
Click this and choose how long Google may keep your data before it is automatically deleted.
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Prevent Google from automatically collecting data
If you prefer Google to stop collecting data altogether, you can turn off tracking of your activities:
Go to Activity options (you can find this in the menu on the left side of the My Google Activity page).
Here you will see different categories such as Web App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History.
Turn off the switch for each category you no longer want tracked. This will prevent Google from tracking these activities of yours in the future.