While Google gives you the option to delete your search history occasionally or to not save it at all, there are certain advantages to keeping your Web & App Activity on. For one thing, it gives you more personalized experiences around various Google apps and services. But in case you share your device with another person, you now get another layer of protection for this so no one can just view all of your My Activity on the shared device. You can now require extra verification for viewing said search activity.
This new tool from Google will ensure that other people sharing your computer or even your smartphone will not be able to just view your search history whenever they want to. All you have to do is to require extra verification for viewing your activity and complete search history. To view that, you’ll have to require your password or two-factor authentication. Of course, only you should have access to that information in order for the extra layer of protection to work.
Google is also introducing a quick delete feature that would let you delete the last 15 minutes of your saved Search history. All it will take is a single tap of a button. However, this feature seems to only be for iOS devices right now. But they did say it will come to the Google app later this year. In the meantime, you can just enable auto-delete controls for your Web & App Activity. You can choose from 3, 18, or 36 months of auto-delete.
Google also wants to remind you that there are some tools for security and privacy check-ups on your account across their services. The Privacy Checkup will give you a walk-through of your key privacy settings while Security Checkup will give you personalized recommendations for protecting your data and your devices. There’s also Google Safe Browsing which gives you notifications when you’re going to dangerous sites or downloading dangerous files.
It’s easy to overlook these tools when you’re doing a lot of things every day. But it would be good to set aside a few minutes a day or even a week to make sure that all your devices and data using Google services are protected.
