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How To Delete Search History
A lot of people donât realize it, but Google is a monolith of a company in that they manage and control large portions of what people do in day-to-day life.
For example, ride-sharing apps like Uber use Google Maps as the foundation of their application, and without Google Maps, thereâs no Uber.
Probably one of the main things that Google does though, is track your activity and create a profile for marketing companies. After all, no service can be offered for free, and marketing is generally how google makes money.
Unfortunately, this tends to cause privacy concerns for people, as well as security issues for those who are security-minded. This is still the case if you use something like a VPN (and be sure to avoid some common VPN Scams).
Thankfully, you can somewhat mitigate this issue by deleting your search history with Google. While that wonât stop you from being tracked by Google, it will go a long way to restore some of your privacy.
Of course, you just need to be aware that before you start this process, deleting your history means youâll get a less personalized experience.
That means that some of your favorite sites might not necessarily show up at the top of Google search results like they normally do, as thatâs learned behavior from your search history.
Downloading Data You Want to Keep
Before starting this process, youâll definitely want to download any data that you might want to keep. Since youâre deleting things for good, itâs a step you should take regardless of whether you think you need it or not, because you never know what might pop up down the line.
The process is thankfully very easy, especially since Google itself has released a tool do it relatively simply called Google Takeout.
To download your data, just go to that page, select all the items you want to save and then click ânextâ. On the next page, youâll be presented with how youâd like to save your data, such as file type, archive size, and how you actually want to receive your data.
Once youâve chosen your setting click on âcreate archiveâ.
All you need to do now is wait, and soon enough, youâll get a notification from Google that your archive is ready to download. Once you complete the download, youâre ready to go to the next step.
How to Delete Your Google Activity & History on Desktop
Again, before moving forward, be aware it deletes all your search history, including for things such as Youtube, or your calendar.
Letâs start with your history, and for that, youâll want to open up Chrome and press Ctrl + H to bring up the History page. On the left-hand side, look for âClear Browsing Historyâ and click on that. Youâll find a drop-down menu there where you can pick the time range, and for that, youâll want to choose âAll Timeâ.
Then, pick the different types of data you want to clear and click on âClear Dataâ.
Next, letâs do your Activities. Log in to your Google account and go to the âMy Activitiesâ page. Once there, click the three ellipses youâll see in the search bar, or wherever it happens to be on your version, and click on âDelete Activity byâ.
In the new pop-up, click on âAlwaysâ and then pick which services you want to delete the search history of. Again, be sure what youâre choosing to delete and then click âDeleteâ.
At this point, Google will probably ask you if youâre sure you want to delete activity, to which you should click yes. After a short wait, youâll find that thereâs no activity left on the screen and youâre done!
How to Delete Your Google Activity on Your Mobile Device
Deleting your activity on your mobile device is even easier and more straightforward.
Just go to myactivity.google.com on your mobile device, tap on âMenuâ then âDelete Activity Byâ and tap on âAll Timeâ. Then, just tap âNextâ and then âDeleteâ and youâre done.
Open up Chrome on your device of choice, whether Android or iOS, and click on the three ellipses and tap on âHistoryâ in the drop-down menu.
Then, tap on âClear Browsing Historyâ, and in the Time Range, tap on âAll Timeâ, as well as selecting all the different types of data you want to delete (usually weâd stick with default), and then click on âClear Dataâ.
How to Delete Google Maps History
One thing that people tend to overlook is their Google Maps history. As mentioned above, itâs a pretty integral part of Googleâs ecosystem, so deleting that history is important if you want to regain back some of your privacy.
That being said, if you use a quality VPN service on your desktop or mobile, you might not run into this issue as much.
To do that, open google maps, log in to your account, tap on your profile picture, then âSettingsâ followed by âMap Historyâ. In the search bar, tap on âMoreâ and then âDelete Activity byâ, just like we did in the steps above.
Finally, set âDelete by dateâ to âAll Timeâ and then tap delete to finalize everything and delete your Google Maps History.
How to âStopâ Google From Tracking You
Of course, thereâs no real way to permanently stop Google from tracking you; thatâs how they make their money after all. Instead, what you can do is sort of pause it, or at least make it a bit less all-encompassing like the Eye of Sauron.
To do that, go to the Activity Controls page in your google account, and youâll see a section called âWeb & App Activityâ, with a slider on it. Swipe the slider to the left to pause that tracking. In fact, you can do the same step for all the sections below if youâd prefer to completely pause all the tracking.
Also, aside from pausing Google tracking, you can also consider using a secure browser rather than Chrome. They tend to be more security-focused and donât track you the same way that Chrome does.
