How to Delete All Your Activity History on Google

If you care (you should) about your privacy, you might want to delete your Google activity history.

Here's how to do it.

Step-by-Step Guide to Deleting Activity History

Deleting All Activity

1. Open your web browser and go to myactivity.google.com.

2. Above your activity list, click on “Delete.”

3. Select “All time.”

4. Click “Next” and then confirm by clicking “Delete.”

Deleting Individual Items

1. Go to myactivity.google.com.

2. Scroll down to view your activity.

3. Find the specific item you want to delete by browsing or using filters.

4. Click on the three dots next to the item and select “Delete.”

Deleting Activity by Date or Product

1. Scroll down to review your activity.

2. Use the filter options to narrow down by date or product.

3. Delete the selected activities as needed.

Deleting Google Location History

1. Go to myactivity.google.com.

2. Click on “Location History” in the left-hand menu.

3. Click on “DELETE LOCATION HISTORY.”

Note: Once deleted, neither you nor Google will be able to access this location history again.

Deleting Other Google Data

1. Navigate to myactivity.google.com.

2. Click on “Other activity” in the left-hand menu.

3. Select the type of activity you want to delete.

4. Review the list of all data for that particular activity and delete as needed.

Deleting Google Data Automatically

1. Open your device's Settings app and tap on “Google Manage your Google Account.”

2. Tap on “Data & privacy” at the top.

3. Scroll down to find “History settings.”

4. Tap an activity or history setting you want to auto-delete.

5. Select “Auto-delete” and choose how long you want to keep your activity before it’s deleted automatically.

6. Confirm your choice.

Note: Some activities may expire sooner than the chosen timeframe.

Understanding Google's Activity History

Google's Activity History is a feature that records user activity across its services.

It collects various types of data, including:

• Browsing history: Websites visited using Chrome while logged in.
• Search queries: Searches made using the Google search app or Chrome browser.
• Location data: Real-world places visited if location history was turned on.
• Device usage: Devices used to access Google sites, apps, and services.
• App usage: Apps used on Android devices.
• Google product interaction: Interactions with Google products such as YouTube, Google Maps, and more.

This information is displayed in a timeline-like layout in the 'My Activity' tool, which replaced Google Search history and Google Web History in 2016.

Review Google's Privacy Policy

Google's Privacy Policy outlines how it handles and stores user data.

Some data can be deleted by you at any time, while other data is automatically deleted after a specific period.

For example, location information is automatically deleted from Web & App Activity after 30 days. Additionally, some data may be retained longer when necessary for business or legal requirements.

You can review Google's Privacy Policy for more details on how your information is managed.

Tools for Deletion

To manage your activity history effectively, you can use the following tools:

• My Activity: A tool that allows you to see and delete data tracked by Google through your account.
• Google Dashboard: Displays all account settings for each service and recent activity for each Google product.
• Google Account Settings: You can manually or automatically delete your search history, location history, and other data through these settings.

Conclusion

You don't have to delete all your activity if you find it helps you personalize your Google experience. However, you should be aware of what data Google collects and how it is used.

By following these steps, you can take control of your data and remove any activities that you no longer want stored by Google.

For further details about privacy practices, consider checking out Google's Privacy Checkup tool to review your key privacy settings.