Whereever you go, Goggle is tracking you, especially Google Maps, and archives that activity in your Google Timeline. It is both a blessing and a curse. It can take you down memory lane, but as a curse, it leaves the door wide open to your privacy.
With Timeline, Google Maps can show where you are going and where you have been. Even photos taken and uploaded to Google Photos can reveal your location. You can also share your location in realtime on your smartphone.
If you prefer to keep your location private, you can remove your location history and stop Google from following you.
This feature is for your iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android device, Windows 10 or whatever smart device supports Google
Stop Activity and Location Tracking
- Open your Google browser
- Log into your account at myaccount.google.com
- Select Data & personalization
- You can disable what Google can tract and collect from you by managing your Activity controls. To stop tracking, click on the Title and toggle the switch to off. See below image:
Warning! Turning off these Activity controls will effect the use of their features.
Delete your Activities
Your activities are kept until you manually delete them (the default). You have the option of deleting all data for the past 18 months or past 3 months.
- Navigate to your Google account at myaccount.google.com
- Select Data & personalization>Web & App Activity>Manage Activity>Choose to delete automatically. See below image:
- Select the 18 or 3 month option
- Tap Next. See below image:
- Google will show you what is about to be deleted
- Tap Confirm at the bottom of your screen. See below image:
- Also, you can delete a particular day’s browsing activity by taping the Trash icon next to the day. Refer to second image above.
To select a custom range, an hour or a date:
- Tap the Menu icon located next to My Activity
- Select Delete activity by. See below image:
- Choose one of the following options. See below image:
- There are other privacy settings you can explore such as Location Services under Settings>Privacy and Security>Location>Location. A set of apps that use Location Services can be toggled on or off. See the following screen:
Warning! Turning off these Apps Location Services will effect the use of their features.
Go Incognito
The best and easist way to “hide” your browsing is to set the Incognito Mode. This feature allows you to browse without Google compiling history, cookies, site data or form information. Google has extended the feature to Maps and YouTube. Maps will stop tracking your location history; YouTube will no longer track your search and view history.
- Launch Google
- Tap the More icon in bottom right hand corner (the 3 dots)
- Tap Turn on incognito. See below image:
You will see the following screen:
To turn off Incognito Mode:
- Launch Google
- Tap the More icon in the bottom right hand corner (the 3 dots)
- Tap In incognito mode
- Tap Turn off incognito. Refer to following image:
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