Google to Soon Let Users Automatically Delete Location History, Web and App Activity

There is no word if the auto-delete feature will arrive on other services like YouTube as well.

By Nadeem Sarwar | Updated: 2 May 2019 11:07 IST

Google to Soon Let Users Automatically Delete Location History, Web and App Activity

Users can start with a minimum automatic activity deletion period of 3 months

Highlights

Upper limit for automatically deleting data is 18 months
The auto-delete feature will roll out over the coming weeks
Users will still have the option to manually delete activity log

Google saves a tonne of user data such as Web activity, search preferences, and location history to give useful recommendations. Although users can fully opt out of it or choose to delete specific activity history based on date and time, the option to automatically delete such data was missing. But that is about to change. Google has announced that soon users will have the option to automatically delete their location history as well as Web and app activity. One can specify a fixed time interval to do so, and once it is done, any location and activity history older than the selected period will automatically be deleted.

In an official blog post, Google has revealed that users can specify how long they want their location and activity data to be saved. One can choose between a duration of 3 months and 18 months to keep their activity data. Any location history pulled from Google Maps as well as Web and app activity data older than the user-specified term will automatically be deleted.

The automatic activity deletion control will first arrive for Location History and Web & App activity, and will go live in the coming weeks. "You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you--and we're committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen," Google notes regarding the upcoming feature.

The feature can prove to be quite useful, as Google will only give recommendations based on the most recent activity of users and their preferences. But on the flip side, limited activity data means the scope of recommendations will be a bit narrower. However, users will still have the option to manually delete their activity data all at once, the activity cache accumulated in a particular duration, or specific parts of it based on topics or categories.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.