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How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

By Ava Barnes

Google Maps is used by millions of people around the world who need directions, suggestions on places to eat or shop and more.

Google continues to be at the center of the data privacy debate because it knows so much about its users, including where they search and where they’ve been. If this creeps you out, you might want to delete your Google Maps history.

Delete Your Google Maps History With These Easy Steps

In this article, we’re going to show you how to delete your Google Maps history on your phone as well as on your computer in some easy-to-follow steps.

Whether you have an Android or iPhone, the steps are the same. Similarly, the steps are the same whether you have a Mac or PC.

Quick Links:

  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Phone
  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Computer

Location data is a hot-button issue when it comes to privacy. Here’s what Google says about your location history:

Location History saves where you go with your devices. To save this data, Google regularly obtains location data from your devices. This data is saved even when you aren’t using a specific Google service, like Google Maps or Search.

Many people are uncomfortable with companies knowing their whereabouts and tracking them, so they are choosing to delete that data.

Locations you’ve searched for can be cleared from your Google Maps history. Here’s how to do in on your phone:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Phone

1. Open Google Maps on your Android or iPhone.

2. Tap the stacked-line menu button in the top left corner

3. Tap Settings.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. Tap Maps History. This will take you to your Maps Activity page.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

5. Scroll down to see Used Maps, Directions and Viewed Area in Google Maps. You have the option of deleting some of these places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete a specific date (for instance, “Yesterday”) tap on the trash can. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

After that, you’re done. To delete other items just repeat those steps.

To delete your Google Maps history on a Mac or Windows computer the process is similar but fewer steps. Here’s what you need to do:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Computer

1. Open Google Maps on your computer. Sign in.

2. Click on the stacked-lines menu button in the top left corner

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

3. Scroll all the way down to Maps Activity and click it.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. On the Maps Activity page, just scroll down to see locations you want to delete. You have the option of deleting some of the places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete the entire day (for instance, “Feb. 17, 2016”), tap on the trash can to the right of the date. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

Once you’ve deleted the item, you’ll see a box asking you to confirm the action. Here’s the screenshot:

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

As you can see, deleting your Google Maps directions on your phone or computer is pretty easy and takes just a few minutes.

Recap

As a recap, to delete your Google Maps history on your phone, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Settings > Maps History > Scroll to find and delete locations

To delete your Google Maps history on your computer, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Maps Activity > Scroll to find and delete locations

To turn off your Google location history altogether, click here. Just know that if you decide to do that, some personalized Google features will be lost.

When it comes to privacy, securing your account goes way beyond removing map directions . Here are three simple ways to delete your Google data.

Clear searches and prior destinations from your phone

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Email

What To Know

  • Open Settings >Maps history >Choose. automatically. Pick a time frame. Press Next >Confirm/Got it.
  • For specific locations, scroll through the history, and select the location. Tap the three vertical dots >Delete >Delete.
  • iOS: Menu >Settings >Maps history. Search or Filter by date. Tap the three dots >Delete results >Delete. Use an entry’s dots to delete it.

This article explains how to delete your Google Maps search history. These instructions apply to any Android or iPhone able to use Google Maps.

How to Clear Google Maps History From Your Android

These instructions apply to both Android phones and tablets. To remove Google Maps history from your Android device, follow these steps.

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Swipe in from the left edge to view the Google Maps menu.

Scroll down to and tap Settings.

Tap Maps history. You have two options here: You can either select auto-deletion settings or scroll down to delete individual locations from your history. To use auto-deletion settings, continue to step 5. To delete individual locations, skip to step 8.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To create auto-deletion settings, tap Choose to delete automatically and make a selection between 3 and 18 months. If you have already set up this automated process, you will see an option of Choose how long to keep instead.

Tap Next.

Tap Confirm or Got It. (This selection depends upon whether or not you needed to set up automatic deletion or not.)

To remove individual locations from your search history, scroll down to find the specific location you want to delete.

Tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of the location you wish to delete).

Tap Delete.

Tap Delete again when you are prompted at the pop-up.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

How to Delete Offline Google Maps From Your Android

If you have downloaded any maps to your phone or tablet for offline use, those need to be removed a little differently.

Follow these steps to delete offline Google maps

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Tap the Maps menu in the upper left of your screen (three horizontal lines placed vertically above one another).

Tap Offline maps.

Tap the three vertical dots next to the offline map you want to delete.

Tap Delete.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

How to Delete Google Maps History From Your iPhone or Other iOS Device

These instructions apply to both iPhones and iPads. To remove Google Maps history from your iOS device, follow these steps.

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Tap the Menu button.

Tap Settings.

Tap Maps History.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To see your entire Maps history, type Maps in the search field and tap Done. Tap Filter by date and enter a date range (or leave as All Time). Choose Apply.

Tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of the search results).

Tap Delete Results to get rid of all of your history. Tape Delete again to confirm.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To delete individual items from your search history, scroll to the item and tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of each item). This is the same as on Android.

Tap Delete next to each entry you want to be removed. Continue doing this for each item you want to be removed if you also want to keep some items.

Google Navigation: How Google Maps Works

Every time you ask Google Maps for directions, including just looking up a quick address to see where something might be in relation to your location, Google thinks you might want to keep that search forever. Maybe you want to return to that restaurant someday, it reasons, or perhaps you’ll need directions back to that incorrect address you entered a few years ago. Google doesn’t know or care why you enter an address; it simply records all the information and retains it so you can use it again if you ever want to.

Most of the time, however, you don’t need directions to the same place over and over again. Plus, there might be times when you simply don’t want anyone else to see where you’ve been or thought about going. When you want to get rid of something in your Google Maps search history, you’ve got options depending upon the device you’re using:

  • You can remove some selected places from your history.
  • You can delete all places from your history automatically.

Removing selected places works a bit differently on an Android than it does on iOS devices so we’ll outline the steps for each in the following instructions.

If you have an iPhone, you can use Maps without a Google account. Just open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture, and tap Use Maps without an account.

With so many online services keeping track of our locations nowadays, it is pretty hard to distinguish between those who use your data for nefarious purposes and those that simply want to provide you with extra location-based tools and features. Heck, even your photos nowadays have some sort of geo-tagging (check out our guide here on how to disable the feature on iOS).

And though you might not know about photo geo-tagging, I am sure you can understand that your location is automatically traced in pretty much every mapping service out there. And while choosing whether you want to send anonymous data statistics to those companies is not always in your power, you can definitely clear out your location history so that no one can know where you have been even if they have physical access to your device.

Google Maps

Removing your location in Google services is probably trickier than most people would like. While the process is extremely simple, Google pretty much tracks you everywhere so you will need to delete your history across two fronts to be extra sure your data is not available.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

1. Open the Google maps app in your mobile device.
2. Tap on the menu icon found on the left side of the search bar (three lines).
3. Choose the Settings option.
4. Open the “Maps history” menu. Here you will find a list of all the currently stored locations you have visited while using Google Maps.
5. You can delete individual entries by tapping on the X icon found on their right side. Note that, as the warning will you, all activity related to that location will also be deleted.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

1. Head over to Google Location History and Google History. Note that the second website might not have Maps data. If it does not you can simply delete everything from the first page and the result will be the same.
2. In the first website, either choose the specific time period you want to delete or just select the “Delete all history” option to remove everything.
2b. In the second website, navigate to the Maps menu and select the “Delete all items” option.

Apple Maps

Apple’s way is much simpler but with one important distinction; there’s no way to delete individual location history items. You can either go all in or forget about it.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

1. Open the Maps app.
2. Tap inside the search bar.
3. Tap on the “Favorites” option.
4. Go to the “Recents” tab found in the bottom of the screen.
5. Tap on the “Clear” option and confirm the deletion of all your data.

Waze

Now that Waze is slowly becoming one of the top navigational apps (at least in the US) people should know how to delete their location history here too.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

1. Open the Waze app.
2. Tap on the Waze icon at the bottom left in order to open the menu.
3. Open the “Navigate” item.
4. Each location you see here will have an information (i) icon next to it. Tapping on them will take you to the Actions menu where you will find an option that reads “Remove from History”.
5. Unfortunately, there is no “delete everything” option here so you will have to go through all of them individually.

Google Maps is used by millions of people around the world who need directions, suggestions on places to eat or shop and more.

Google continues to be at the center of the data privacy debate because it knows so much about its users, including where they search and where they’ve been. If this creeps you out, you might want to delete your Google Maps history.

Delete Your Google Maps History With These Easy Steps

In this article, we’re going to show you how to delete your Google Maps history on your phone as well as on your computer in some easy-to-follow steps.

Whether you have an Android or iPhone, the steps are the same. Similarly, the steps are the same whether you have a Mac or PC.

Quick Links:

  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Phone
  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Computer

Location data is a hot-button issue when it comes to privacy. Here’s what Google says about your location history:

Location History saves where you go with your devices. To save this data, Google regularly obtains location data from your devices. This data is saved even when you aren’t using a specific Google service, like Google Maps or Search.

Many people are uncomfortable with companies knowing their whereabouts and tracking them, so they are choosing to delete that data.

Locations you’ve searched for can be cleared from your Google Maps history. Here’s how to do in on your phone:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Phone

1. Open Google Maps on your Android or iPhone.

2. Tap the stacked-line menu button in the top left corner

3. Tap Settings.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. Tap Maps History. This will take you to your Maps Activity page.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

5. Scroll down to see Used Maps, Directions and Viewed Area in Google Maps. You have the option of deleting some of these places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete a specific date (for instance, “Yesterday”) tap on the trash can. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

After that, you’re done. To delete other items just repeat those steps.

To delete your Google Maps history on a Mac or Windows computer the process is similar but fewer steps. Here’s what you need to do:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Computer

1. Open Google Maps on your computer. Sign in.

2. Click on the stacked-lines menu button in the top left corner

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

3. Scroll all the way down to Maps Activity and click it.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. On the Maps Activity page, just scroll down to see locations you want to delete. You have the option of deleting some of the places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete the entire day (for instance, “Feb. 17, 2016”), tap on the trash can to the right of the date. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

Once you’ve deleted the item, you’ll see a box asking you to confirm the action. Here’s the screenshot:

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

As you can see, deleting your Google Maps directions on your phone or computer is pretty easy and takes just a few minutes.

Recap

As a recap, to delete your Google Maps history on your phone, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Settings > Maps History > Scroll to find and delete locations

To delete your Google Maps history on your computer, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Maps Activity > Scroll to find and delete locations

To turn off your Google location history altogether, click here. Just know that if you decide to do that, some personalized Google features will be lost.

When it comes to privacy, securing your account goes way beyond removing map directions . Here are three simple ways to delete your Google data.

Google Maps is used by millions of people around the world who need directions, suggestions on places to eat or shop and more.

Google continues to be at the center of the data privacy debate because it knows so much about its users, including where they search and where they’ve been. If this creeps you out, you might want to delete your Google Maps history.

Delete Your Google Maps History With These Easy Steps

In this article, we’re going to show you how to delete your Google Maps history on your phone as well as on your computer in some easy-to-follow steps.

Whether you have an Android or iPhone, the steps are the same. Similarly, the steps are the same whether you have a Mac or PC.

Quick Links:

  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Phone
  • Here’s How To Delete Google Maps From Your Computer

Location data is a hot-button issue when it comes to privacy. Here’s what Google says about your location history:

Location History saves where you go with your devices. To save this data, Google regularly obtains location data from your devices. This data is saved even when you aren’t using a specific Google service, like Google Maps or Search.

Many people are uncomfortable with companies knowing their whereabouts and tracking them, so they are choosing to delete that data.

Locations you’ve searched for can be cleared from your Google Maps history. Here’s how to do in on your phone:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Phone

1. Open Google Maps on your Android or iPhone.

2. Tap the stacked-line menu button in the top left corner

3. Tap Settings.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. Tap Maps History. This will take you to your Maps Activity page.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

5. Scroll down to see Used Maps, Directions and Viewed Area in Google Maps. You have the option of deleting some of these places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete a specific date (for instance, “Yesterday”) tap on the trash can. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

After that, you’re done. To delete other items just repeat those steps.

To delete your Google Maps history on a Mac or Windows computer the process is similar but fewer steps. Here’s what you need to do:

How to Delete Your Google Maps History On Your Computer

1. Open Google Maps on your computer. Sign in.

2. Click on the stacked-lines menu button in the top left corner

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

3. Scroll all the way down to Maps Activity and click it.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

4. On the Maps Activity page, just scroll down to see locations you want to delete. You have the option of deleting some of the places from your Maps History or all of them.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • To delete the entire day (for instance, “Feb. 17, 2016”), tap on the trash can to the right of the date. You can also delete a specific location by tapping the three vertical buttons next to the item.

Once you’ve deleted the item, you’ll see a box asking you to confirm the action. Here’s the screenshot:

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

As you can see, deleting your Google Maps directions on your phone or computer is pretty easy and takes just a few minutes.

Recap

As a recap, to delete your Google Maps history on your phone, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Settings > Maps History > Scroll to find and delete locations

To delete your Google Maps history on your computer, the steps are:

  • Google Maps Menu > Maps Activity > Scroll to find and delete locations

To turn off your Google location history altogether, click here. Just know that if you decide to do that, some personalized Google features will be lost.

When it comes to privacy, securing your account goes way beyond removing map directions . Here are three simple ways to delete your Google data.

Clear searches and prior destinations from your phone

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Email

What To Know

  • Open Settings >Maps history >Choose. automatically. Pick a time frame. Press Next >Confirm/Got it.
  • For specific locations, scroll through the history, and select the location. Tap the three vertical dots >Delete >Delete.
  • iOS: Menu >Settings >Maps history. Search or Filter by date. Tap the three dots >Delete results >Delete. Use an entry’s dots to delete it.

This article explains how to delete your Google Maps search history. These instructions apply to any Android or iPhone able to use Google Maps.

How to Clear Google Maps History From Your Android

These instructions apply to both Android phones and tablets. To remove Google Maps history from your Android device, follow these steps.

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Swipe in from the left edge to view the Google Maps menu.

Scroll down to and tap Settings.

Tap Maps history. You have two options here: You can either select auto-deletion settings or scroll down to delete individual locations from your history. To use auto-deletion settings, continue to step 5. To delete individual locations, skip to step 8.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To create auto-deletion settings, tap Choose to delete automatically and make a selection between 3 and 18 months. If you have already set up this automated process, you will see an option of Choose how long to keep instead.

Tap Next.

Tap Confirm or Got It. (This selection depends upon whether or not you needed to set up automatic deletion or not.)

To remove individual locations from your search history, scroll down to find the specific location you want to delete.

Tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of the location you wish to delete).

Tap Delete.

Tap Delete again when you are prompted at the pop-up.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

How to Delete Offline Google Maps From Your Android

If you have downloaded any maps to your phone or tablet for offline use, those need to be removed a little differently.

Follow these steps to delete offline Google maps

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Tap the Maps menu in the upper left of your screen (three horizontal lines placed vertically above one another).

Tap Offline maps.

Tap the three vertical dots next to the offline map you want to delete.

Tap Delete.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

How to Delete Google Maps History From Your iPhone or Other iOS Device

These instructions apply to both iPhones and iPads. To remove Google Maps history from your iOS device, follow these steps.

Open the Google Maps app using your Google account.

Tap the Menu button.

Tap Settings.

Tap Maps History.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To see your entire Maps history, type Maps in the search field and tap Done. Tap Filter by date and enter a date range (or leave as All Time). Choose Apply.

Tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of the search results).

Tap Delete Results to get rid of all of your history. Tape Delete again to confirm.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

To delete individual items from your search history, scroll to the item and tap the vertical menu (three dots vertically placed on the upper right of each item). This is the same as on Android.

Tap Delete next to each entry you want to be removed. Continue doing this for each item you want to be removed if you also want to keep some items.

Google Navigation: How Google Maps Works

Every time you ask Google Maps for directions, including just looking up a quick address to see where something might be in relation to your location, Google thinks you might want to keep that search forever. Maybe you want to return to that restaurant someday, it reasons, or perhaps you’ll need directions back to that incorrect address you entered a few years ago. Google doesn’t know or care why you enter an address; it simply records all the information and retains it so you can use it again if you ever want to.

Most of the time, however, you don’t need directions to the same place over and over again. Plus, there might be times when you simply don’t want anyone else to see where you’ve been or thought about going. When you want to get rid of something in your Google Maps search history, you’ve got options depending upon the device you’re using:

  • You can remove some selected places from your history.
  • You can delete all places from your history automatically.

Removing selected places works a bit differently on an Android than it does on iOS devices so we’ll outline the steps for each in the following instructions.

If you have an iPhone, you can use Maps without a Google account. Just open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture, and tap Use Maps without an account.

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

Google maps play a significant role in showing directions and helping people reach their destination by guiding them about the best route online or offline. Just like the native search engine, Google maps save history by default. This feature eventually helps the app to fetch and autofill your search bar to ease the process further. However, suppose you have privacy concerns, you can opt to delete Google Maps search history on iPhone.

How to Delete Google Maps Search History on iPhone and Android

  1. In the Google Maps Application, tap on your profile at the top right corner.
  2. Tap on Settings.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  3. Now, tap on Maps history.
  4. To delete a particular map or selective maps, tap on three vertical dots ahead of it and choose Delete.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  5. To delete all the places, tap on three vertical dots ahead of the search bar on top of the page.
  6. Tap on Delete Activity by.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  7. Choose your preferred option. You can also choose auto-deletion.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

How to Clear Search History in Google Maps on Computer

  1. Open Google Maps on your PC. Sign in.
  2. Click on three lines stacked at the top left corner.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the flag and click on Maps Activity.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  4. To delete a particular map or selective maps, click on three vertical dots ahead of it and choose Delete.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphoneHow to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  5. To delete all the places, click on three vertical dots ahead of the search bar on top of the page.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  6. Click on Delete Activity by.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone
  7. Choose your preferred option. You can also choose auto-deletion.How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphoneHow to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

Signing off

While the feature is designed and kept as default to improve the overall user experience, some might find it as an intrusion in the personal space. While the steps mentioned above can help you keep your experience more personal, you can further choose to disable or remove the Google Maps timeline on your iPhone and Android devices. If there’s any further information that you wish to seek, please feel free to ask us in the comment section below.

You may also like to read these:

How to view and delete your google maps history on android and iphone

So, you’ve turned off Location History on your phone in an effort to maintain your privacy and limit the amount of data you share with the big tech companies. Well, it turns out Google may still be tracking your movements.

An AP investigation published Monday discovered that some of Google’s many different services are still tracking users’ every move on both iPhone and Android phones regardless of whether they’ve toggled the “Location History” setting on or off.

When using a service like Google Maps, Google will ask you to permit access to your iPhone or Android phone’s location data. When agreeing to this request, you allow Google Maps to record your location history, and display your location history on a timeline so you can view your daily travels.

On a Google support page for managing your Location History, the company says “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.” However, as the AP investigation discovered, that isn’t exactly true.

Some examples of location-data logging the AP points to include Android’s automatic weather updates that still track your general location, Google’s search engine saving an exact location for each search query to your Google account, and even Google Maps itself snapshotting your location when you open the application.

AP began its inquiry into this location-tracking issue after a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley observed a notification on her Android phone asking her to rate a recent trip to Kohl’s even though she had turned off Location History.

It seems that even with Location History put on pause, a number of Google apps still automatically store your location data without asking.

In a statement to the AP, Google explained, “There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services. We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.”

To actually stop location services on your iPhone or Android device altogether, Google pointed AP to the “Web and App Activity” setting. This setting, turned on by default, controls various options for apps and services connected to your Google account.

As AP discovered upon further exploring these options, Google’s prompts further explain what each setting means, but only after you toggle each one on or off. Pausing Location History on your Google account webpage provides a prompt that informs you that “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other Google services, like Search and Maps.”

On an Android phone, toggling the same setting off lets you know that “places you go with your devices will stop being added to your Location History map.” On an iPhone you’ll be warned that “none of your Google apps will be able to store location data in Location History.”

Additionally, when toggling the “Web and App Activity” setting on through your Google account, you’re notified that the setting “saves the things you do on Google sites, apps, and services . and associated information, like location.”

Technically, Google is right in its explanation of each of these settings. Location History settings seem to only pertain to the actual logging of this location data on the phone for easy user access, the ability to view a timeline of precisely where you’ve been. Toggling this setting off does not affect Google’s ability to pinpoint your location and draw from this data what the company deems necessary to give you more accurate information.

In a statement provided to Mashable, a Google spokesperson said:

“Location History is a Google product that is entirely opt in, and users have the controls to edit, delete, or turn it off at any time. As the story notes, we make sure Location History users know that when they disable the product, we continue to use location to improve the Google experience when they do things like perform a Google search or use Google for driving directions.”

Mashable was also provided with this link on Google’s location data policy.

Google previously faced scrutiny for a location-tracking issue late last year. The company was found to be accessing users’ location even when the GPS location tracking was off through “Cell ID codes” obtained through cellular towers.

Jonathan Mayer, a computer scientist at Princeton and a former chief technologist for the FCC’s enforcement bureau, had a researcher from his lab confirm AP’s findings. Speaking to the AP, Mayer said, “If you’re going to allow users to turn off something called ‘Location History,’ then all the places where you maintain location history should be turned off. That seems like a pretty straightforward position to have.”

It’s pretty clear with the AP’s findings that the settings options and language used to describe them are fairly confusing for the average iPhone and Android user. The question remains as to whether Google will clarify these privacy issues with updated options and information provided to consumers. However, with GDPR laws already changing many big tech companies’ policies regarding how they deal with European users’ privacy and data, Google may not have much of a choice.

UPDATE: Aug. 16, 2018, 1:53 p.m. PDT The AP reported Thursday that Google is now clarifying that the app continues to track user location even after turning off location history.

A Google spokesperson said in an email statement Thursday afternoon, “We have been updating the explanatory language about Location History to make it more consistent and clear across our platforms and help centers.”

Related Video: We tested this device to see if it could actually help us find our friends — no matter how good they are at hiding

Table of Contents

It is understandable if you want to keep your Google search history safe.

Google has been in the headlines a lot lately over data confidentiality — and not necessarily in a positive way. People learn to be aware of how Google uses data, from leaking its products to leaking customer data to collect personal information from people who use Google apps.

Even if you do not own an Android phone, you are likely to use three or four of Google’s services daily, and the company has a lot of information about you. Even if you used the services offline, this includes your work commute and shopping habits.

But that does not mean that Google can track you down because the data is stored anonymously. Its primary purpose is to help marketers better understand audiences so that they can target ads more effectively. There are options to uninstall the Google search history stored on your computers, whether you have been looking at something you might not have been or do not want pages to be able to extract your private information.

There are various other ways to remain anonymous online, mentioned at the end of the article. Switching to DuckDuckGo is one of them gaining access to the dark web and dark websites.

Clear Google Search History

It used to be challenging to keep track of just what Google knows about you. Google also has an opt-in feature called “My Activity,” which allows you to see everything Google has found about you in one place. It is essentially the same as a web browser history, except it’s turned up to eleven.

Of course, you can clear Google search history details from your browser, which we discuss below. Still, My Activity provides a much more comprehensive and detailed view of your Google search history, as well as the ability to clear individual elements of your Google history in a few clicks.

You can clear as much or as little of your Google data as you want after signing into My Activity, and it is pretty simple to do.