Google is almost certainly present in every aspect of our life. From school papers and work emails to watching how-to videos and making phone conversations, the corporation maintains a vast network of tools and apps that users utilize for everything.
However, it is also undeniable that Google continues to collect data from its users.
Google App Tracking: How Do I Check Google Tracking
According to The Washington Post, breaking off from Google gathering information about users online and app usage.
When users create a new Google account, Google limits the amount of data it collects by default to only 18 months of online and app activity; anything older is instantly eliminated.
Here's how to check Google Tracking to prevent Google from collecting your site and app activities in the future:
- Log into your Google account by clicking the icon in the top right corner of Google.com on your desktop or mobile browser.
- After logging in, go to the upper right corner of your screen and select Manage your Google account.
- From the drop-down display, select Privacy & Personalization.
- Things you've done and locations you've been can be found by clicking Things you've done and Places You've Been.
- Within the History settings box, select Web & App Activity. This brings up the Activity Controls window.
- Under Web & App Activity, select Turn-off.
- Select Pause in the pop-up window and Select Got It.
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As stated by The Washington Post, turning off location tracking on a user's phone isn't enough to prevent Google from collecting information about your location.
Even if a user disables a function that tracks their position in their Google account settings, the tech giant still has a pretty good idea of where they are due to other settings that aren't as explicitly labeled as gathering location information.
However, Google stated that users are given the option to modify their settings.
Google App Tracking: How To Delete Google Activities
After the how-do-I-check-Google-Tracking-steps, here are the following steps to follow in deleting all of the user's Google activities on the web and in apps activities as well.
Even if a user has disabled Google's collection of their site and app activity, Google still has their previous data.
To remove their previous online and app activity, here are the following steps, as recommended by CNET:
- First, log into the user's Google account by clicking the icon in the top right corner of Google.com on a desktop or mobile browser.
- After logging in, go to the upper right corner of your screen and select Manage your Google account.
- From the drop-down display, select Privacy & Personalization.
- Within the History settings box, select Web & App Activity. This brings up the Activity Controls window.
- Near the bottom of the screen, click Manage All Web & App Activity, and on the right, under Search Your Activity, click Delete.
- The options to erase the user's Web & App Activity from the Last Hour, Last Day, All Time, or a Custom Range will appear in the new window. Choose and Click All Time.
- A new window will appear, asking users to select which services they want to erase activities from. When users have made their decision, click Next.
- Users need to confirm if they want to delete the following activity that appears near the top of a pop-up window. Click the Delete button, which is near the bottom and confirm your action.
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