Tip: Auto-Delete Web and App Activity from Google

Last week, Google announced that it would allow users to auto-delete web and app activity from their Google accounts on a schedule. That capability is now available, and a similar control for location history is coming soon.

“Privacy controls should be easy to find and use,” Google’s Eric Miraglia wrote in the announcement about this new functionality. “Last year, we made it easier for you to make decisions about your data directly within Search. Last week we announced a new control that lets you choose a time limit for the amount of time your Location History and Web and App Activity data will be saved—3 or 18 months. Any data older than that will be automatically and continuously deleted from your account if you choose. This new control is available today for Web & App Activity and coming next month to Location History.”

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Here’s how to review this option and configure it to automatically delete your web and app activity over time, if you’d like.

Using your web browser of choice, navigate to the Google Account website and sign-in if required. Then, select Data and Personalization in the navigation pane on the left. Under Activity controls, expand the view for “Web & App Activity.” Now, select “MANAGE ACTIVITY.”

By default, your web and app activity is kept until you delete it manually. To change this behavior, select “Choose to delete automatically.” In the resulting dialog, you can choose between:

  • Keep until I delete manually (the default)
  • Keep for 18 months then delete automatically
  • Keep for 3 months then delete automatically

Select the one you prefer and then select Next and then Got it. You’re done.

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Conversation 15 comments

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    13 May, 2019 - 9:28 am

    <p>Just a quick point, the option top left of the page in your images ("Delete activity by") allows you to set a delete filter. You can set it to a specific date and say anything before (E.g. Today) should be deleted or after a date.</p><p>I deleted all my activity last week (previously I'd been deleting it manually, but deleting it a day at a time over the last 10 – 15 years is a long and slow process, I'm not sure if the option appeared with this change or whether it appeared a while back, I know that I didn't see it when I started deleting my history 2 years ago) and have not only paused all tracking (it has been off for the last 18 months), but with auto delete after 3 months. So, theoretically, Google doesn't track anything I do and what it does track gets deleted after 3 months.</p>

    • madthinus

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 3:37 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427725">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>Google is still tracking you, it is just not tracking you by associating your gmail account with your profile it has generated for you.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        14 May, 2019 - 3:19 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#427913">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>At work, yes, not at home. There I have my own DNS server, which has most Google (and Facebook &amp; Co.) and many other 3rd party tracking sites blacklisted…</p><p>But, yes, you can't get 100% away from them. I don't use Google services on my PC (other than watching 3 YouTube channels) and on my Android phone most of the Google services are disabled. There is only so much you can do.</p>

  • waethorn

    13 May, 2019 - 9:32 am

    <p>Can we trust that this data is actually removed from Google's datacenters and out of their monetization cycle though? I mean, when you have companies like Facebook claim that they would never sell your data for ad money, and Android phones not having a real switch to completely disable WiFi or location services.</p>

    • nicholas_kathrein

      13 May, 2019 - 9:58 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427732">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes you can. If it was ever proved otherwise they'd loose many customers. If their choice is to keep quiet or give these options and lie then keeping quiet would be fine as they aren't going to really gain customers because of this. They don't have to do this. Most people don't care. It's proved out.</p>

      • rm

        13 May, 2019 - 10:51 am

        <blockquote><a href="#427734"><em>In reply to Nicholas_Kathrein:Actually, more accurately, most people don't want to be</em></a> bothered by these settings (Google knows this), just want their privacy be default which means if every Google user voted on the default setting, it would be set to 18 months). Lazyness and/or non-technical is why they don't care. To say they don't care at all is not accurate.</blockquote><p><br></p>

      • waethorn

        13 May, 2019 - 1:00 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#427734">In reply to Nicholas_Kathrein:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well, as I stated already: when you set WiFi to "off" on Android, it's not actually off. Neither is location services in the system menu – the OS still has access to location services, and WiFi is actively pinging networks to get triangulation. So you still trust Google to "do the right thing" regarding your data?</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 10:04 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427732">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>You can only guarantee that you are no longer aware of whether the data exists or not and whether it is still tied to your account.</p>

    • dontbe evil

      13 May, 2019 - 10:12 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427732">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>no</p>

  • dontbe evil

    13 May, 2019 - 10:12 am

    <p>Auto-Delete Web and App Activity from Google</p><p>yeah, sure, sure sure, really!!!!</p>

  • creugea7

    13 May, 2019 - 10:18 am

    <p>So….. I logged into mine and Web and App activity is paused. Does this mean nothing is being tracked??? I have the same setting for location, voice and audio activity, &amp; device info. If this is the case, isn't this the better solution??</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 10:31 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427743">In reply to creugea7:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, having everything paused is the better option. But I still set mine to delete after 3 months. I still check my settings regularly. It is amazing how often a dialog option will trip you up and turn something back on again.</p>

  • Awhispersecho

    Premium Member
    13 May, 2019 - 10:59 pm

    <p>So basically the only thing that has changed is that you can now delete the history that appears on your device or under your account. If anyone believes for a second that Google is actually permanently deleting all the history they have on you when you say so they have another thing coming. No way they are doing that. </p>

  • cburick

    08 June, 2019 - 4:44 pm

    <p>How accurate is the web and app activity?</p>

  • martinm

    Premium Member
    25 June, 2020 - 11:34 am

    <p>I went through this exercise to purge my data from them. EVERYONE should be concerned about this level of tracking. Everyone. This is truly concerning. </p>

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