My Activity Google : How to delete my activity manually on Google Search easily ..
MY ACTIVITY GOOGLE HISTORY
Do you know that whatever you do on Google is recorded somewhere or the other? Your Google Account saves all the activities like what you read, watched, and searched on any of the Google-related Apps.
A dedicated ‘My Activity’ section of Google helps to find the history of your Google Account. Do you want to know the types of activities stored on Google? There is a long list for this if you use a smartphone for these activities.
1. Map History
2. Location History
3. Google History
4. YouTube History
5. Device Access History
Benefits of Google History
There are endless benefits of stored Google History, but mainly –
(i) It helps recall what you searched for, or what you have been searching for.
(ii) It helps to find out if you have made use of any unauthorized source.
(iii) You can also block the unauthorized source in the future.
Deleting the Google History
Sometimes, for some reason or other, we want to delete specific historical details from the Google Activity History. We can do so very easily. But before deleting, we must keep in mind a few things –
(i) Once deleted, it cannot be recovered.
(ii) After deleting the history, the new activities are automatically recorded.
(iii) There are some Google Apps that track all your activities even if you are not logged in to your account. So keep it in mind.
(iv)If you do not want to save the history of Google at any time, you can choose the option of disabling activity tracking.
(v) You can choose the option of auto–delete to automatically delete the history.
As you cannot recover the history, the best option is back up your data before deleting it.
Backing up the Google Activity
As already said, you must back up the Google Activity History somewhere before deleting it. The process to do is as such –
1. For this, you need to first access the Google Account’s ‘Management Page’.
2. On the left-hand side of the page, various options will be visible. From them, choose and click on the option ‘Data and Personalisation’.
3. Now, scroll down on the page to find the option ‘Download your Data’ and click on it.
4. You will then be presented with various options like Tasks, Voice, YouTube, YouTube Music, etc. Choose the appropriate activity.
Note – All the activities are selected by default. If you do not want to back up the data for all the activities, carefully select only those options which you want to back up and deselect others.
5. Choose the type of file now. Choose a type that is most suitable for you.
6. You can also choose the method of getting the backup. Like, you can directly get the backup in your Google Drive, or get it via email.
Note– If you are backing up too much data, it can take many days to complete. So, it is advisable that you must back up limited data at once.
DELETING ACTIVITY ON ANDROID PHONE
(A) Deleting the history of all the activities –
1. For deleting the activity in the Android Phone, use the link myactivity.google.com.
2. Once you reach the site, you just need to scroll down to see the history of your internet search. You will be able to see the date wise history of your Google services.
3. Just look for the ‘Delete’ tab above the Activity section.
4. Now, tap on ‘All Time’.
5. You will then be able to see tap ‘Next’. Click on that.
6. In the end, click on the ‘Delete’ tap.
(B) Deleting the history of individual activity items –
Sometimes, we just want to delete a search result, a website, etc., and not the whole history. The good news is that we can easily do so. Just follow the steps discussed below –
1. On the official activity page My Google Activity, scroll through the activities listed.
2. Search for the activity you want to delete. The activity can be searched by date or using different filters.
3. Once found, delete the activity by tapping on the ‘Delete’ tab.
DELETING ACTIVITY ON PC/LAPTOP
(A) Deleting the history of all the activities –
1. For deleting the activity in the Android Phone, use the link myactivity.google.com.
2. Once you reach the site, you just need to scroll down to see the history of your internet search. You will be able to see the date-wise history of your Google services.
3. Just look for the ‘Delete’ tab above the Activity section.
4. Now, tap on ‘All Time’.
5. You will then be able to see tap ‘Next’. Click on that.
6. In the end, click on the ‘Delete’ tap.
(B) Deleting the history of individual activity items –
Sometimes, we just want to delete a search result, a website, etc., and not the whole history. The good news is that we can easily do so. Just follow the steps discussed below –
1. On the official activity page Google – My Activity, scroll through the activities listed.
2. Search for the activity you want to delete. The activity can be searched by date or using different filters.
3. Once found, delete the activity by tapping on the ‘Delete’ tab.
Note- You must have observed that the process of deleting the Activity on any of the devices be it Android, PC or iPhone/iPad is all the same.
AUTOMATIC DELETION OF GOOGLE ACCOUNT ACTIVITY HISTORY
In your Google Account, you can opt for the automatic deletion of the activity history, by following the process discussed below –
1. Open the ‘Gmail App’ on your device.
2. Search for your ‘Profile’ picture. Click on it. Various options will now appear. From them, click on the option ‘Manage your Google Account’.
Note; – In case, you don’t use Gmail, just access the myactivity.google.com page.
3. Whichever, option you use, you will be able to see the option ‘Data & Privacy’.
4. Click on it. Now, search for the ‘History Settings’ option.
5. If you want to delete a single activity, tap on it and then scroll and click the ‘Auto-delete’ option.
6. Now, you will be asked about how long you want to keep your activity. Choose carefully according to your choice.
7. Click on the ‘Next’ tab, and then press the ‘Confirm’ tab.
PAUSING THE SAVING OF YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT ACTIVITY HISTORY / TEMPORARILY STOP SAVING ACTIVITY
1. Open the ‘Gmail App’ on your device.
2. Search for your ‘Profile’ picture. Click on it. Various options will now appear. From them, click on the option ‘Manage your Google Account’.
Note; – In case, you don’t use Gmail, just access the myactivity.google.com page.
3. Whichever, option you use, you will be able to see the option ‘Data & Privacy’.
4. Click on it. Now, search for the ‘History Settings’ option.
5. Click on any activity that you don’t want to save.
6. You will then find an option ‘Web & App Activity off’.
7. Click on the ‘Pause’ tab, and then press the ‘Got its tab.
DELETING SEARCH HISTORY USING FILTERS
I have already discussed the process of deleting the history of activities. But, forgot to tell you about how to apply filters for deleting the search history. Some of the filters that can be used are: –
(i) For deleting all of your search history, use the option ‘Delete all time’.
(ii) For deleting the history for a specific time period, use the option ‘delete custom range’.
(iii) For deleting the history of a particular day, use the option ‘Delete all activity from [day] ’.
(iv) For deleting the specific activity, use the option ‘Delete activity item’.
HOW THE HISTORY DOES GET DELETED FROM THE GOOGLE ACCOUNT?
Once you choose the delete activity in any of the ways like choosing manually or automatically, the process of removing it starts immediately. First, it is removed from view and one loses access for personalization, and then the process of deleting the data from the storage system stops.
Note– Certain types of data are retained by Google if it is bound legally or because of business.