Believe it or not, the Internet has more intel on you than you’d like to imagine. It’s safe to say that Google is the modern man’s best friend. After all, everyone uses it for right about any information they want.
From delicious recipes to the latest news to historical and medical facts, Google has all the answers to your questions. And the best part is that this plethora of information at your disposal is all for free.
Well, it is monetarily free but does come at the expense of your privacy.
Google relies on collecting its users’ information in order to develop improved products and services. This is more like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they’re doing everything they can to improve the customer experience. But on the other hand, users find it hard to trust them.
Even though these privacy breaches tend to ring alarm bells in one’s mind, they’re actually pretty common. Undoubtedly, Google knows much more about you than you’d give it credit for.
But the good news is that you have control over your search history. Google’s My Activity feature allows you to delete your history and stop Google from monitoring your user activity. So, without much further ado, let’s look at what My Google Activity is all about.
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What Is My Google Activity?
In order to take care of your privacy better, you must understand what My Google Activity is. My Activity is a feature on Google where you can view and manage your internet activity. This includes your search history, YouTube videos, and websites visited.
Your search history is saved to your Google Account. It is part of your Web & App Activity and other Google services and is saved when you log in to your Google Account. You can find, pause and delete this activity in the My Activity section of your account.
Remember, you’ll find your entire activity in this section from when you last deleted your Google account’s history (if you ever did so).
How to Check My Google Account Activity?
Viewing My Google Activity With Android or iOS
You can check your Google account activity in multiple ways on Android or iOS. Still, opting for the easiest way to open My Google Activity is better. You follow the steps below to access My Google Activity in the quickest way possible:
- Open the Google app On your Android or iOS device
- Tap the profile icon in the upper right corner
- Then click on Manage your Google Account
- Next, tap Data & privacy tab at the top
- Scroll to “History settings”
- Click on My Activity
Each activity you’ve performed using your Google account is listed as an individual item. Your most recent activity is on the top.
You can get more information by clicking on the “Details” tab at the bottom of each item. Here, you’ll find your activity’s date, time, and location (to name a few things).
Viewing My Google Activity With a Browser
Accessing My Google Activity with a browser is quite a simple process. All you need is your username and password to log in to your Google account. Then, follow the steps given below:
- Log in to your Google account and open the “Google” homepage
- Click on your profile icon in the top right corner
- Then select “Manage your Google Account”
- Tap on the “Data & Privacy” tab
- Next, scroll down and click the “Things you’ve done and places you’ve been” section
- Click on the “My Activity” option
- Scroll down and use the general search bar or the Filter by date & product option to find your activity accurately. You can even search your activity by date and time.
How to Pause and Delete My Google Activity?
As mentioned before, Google does not miss anything you search for. So there’s a possibility that your internet history dates years back. Rest assured, if that’s a scary thought, you can simply pause tracking. Here are the steps to do this:
- Open your Google account on your device
- Go to Manage your Google Account
- Click on Data & privacy at the top
- Under “History settings,” tap on an activity or history you don’t want to save
- Then turn “Web & App Activity” off
- Next, click on Pause and then Got it
If you’re still a tad bit superstitious about your privacy, there’s an even better option for you. You can delete your entire Google activity. Given below are a few ways to do this.
Delete All Activity
- Go to myactivity.google.com on your browser
- Click Delete above your activity
- Click All time
- Tap on Next and then Delete
Delete Individual Activity Items
An example of an individual activity item is a single Google search or a website you visited. Here’s how you can delete it:
- Go to myactivity.google.com on your computer
- Scroll down to your activity
- Find the item you want to delete using filters
- Tap on the item
- Then click Delete
Delete My Google Activity by Date or Product
- Go to myactivity.google.com and scroll down to your activity
- Filter your activity by date and product
- To filter by date: Select Calendar event. Then, choose a date to find the activity before that date.
- To filter by product: Select Search. Then, select the products you want to include. Some Google products don’t save activity in My Activity.
- Then delete activity
- To delete all activity you filtered for: Tap on Delete next to the search bar. Then click on Delete Results
- To delete certain items: Tap on the item you want to delete. Then select Delete
The best part is that you’ll even find an “Auto-delete” option under the “History Settings” of your Google account. Just click on it to automatically delete your My Google Activity. You won’t have to go through the hassle of deleting individual items this way.
Why Can’t I Delete My Google Activity?
Why won’t Google let me delete my activity? If this question is plaguing your mind, don’t worry. There are a few possible reasons why this might be happening. For example:
- Limited permission settings
- Configuration changes you accidentally made or those by third-party programs
- Unsolved bugs and other technical issues
- Syncing browser data across devices
- Outdated browser
You can always try to log out of your account and then log back in. Restarting your device can also help. But if all else fails, you must simply wait. The system will reboot to automatically fix the issue. So, you can go back to delete your search activity.
That said, you can even recover your deleted Google activity.
My Google Activity — A Means For You to Control Privacy
My Google Activity is a feature that comes as a breath of fresh air during times when privacy breaches are the users’ top concern. Although Google needs to know a few things to improve customer experience, it doesn’t need to know everything.
How can I see My Google Activity is a question most people ask. The My Google Activity feature shows you everything you’ve shared with Google. It also gives you more control over your activity. Now that you’ve read this article, you know about this feature and how to access it. So, you don’t have to worry about privacy breaches anymore.
