Google automatically register your recent searches. Generate a history of the words you have searched for and the websites you have accessed. But this information can be delete, and we can also make a change in the configuration so that the information is not stored automatically. This is useful if we don't want Google to have too much information about us -who will have it anyway- or if we share the account or device with someone.
The Mountain View company, in the configuration options of the Google account, allows us to control all these parameters. From eliminating specific information about the activity with your service to eliminating absolutely all the records. And we can also configure the account so that the information is not saved automatically. Another option, obviously, is to use applications like Google Chrome in incognito mode, or use some of Google's services without login with our account.
How to clear your recent Google searches
Delete your recent searches
It is one of the most hardcore and it goes beyond deleting the pages visited. As we said before, Google knows much more information about us, such as the apps we open and what we do in them. First of all, we have to say that if you use a browser other than Google Chrome you can also delete the history, although it is possible that the route to follow is somewhat different.
On your Android device, open the app Settings and access the Google section, to then go to the section Google account. Once here, scroll down to Data and customization and here it goes down to My activity. Right in the search bar, click on the right side on the button with three dots in portrait orientation and select Delete activity by. A series of filters will appear, and you have to select the option in the section related to the date Always display. Now, you just have to click on the option Delete.
Here we can more exhaustively choose the content we want to remove and since when, that is, we can select to delete activity from one app or all of them, for a week or forever, to give a few examples. Once you have made your selection, you only have to click on delete and say goodbye to your history. Note that what you delete cannot be recovered, so tune well before hitting.
Prevent Google from logging your activity
If you have used the option to delete recent searches, it is probably because you do not want Google to record this information automatically. If so, then maybe you should configure the service so that stop saving information about your activity automatically. And it's something you can do from Settings on your device, accessing Google and then Google account. Now, in Data and personalization, access Activity Controls and click on Manage your activity controls. You will only have to deactivate the activities that you do not want Google to register automatically.
Are we 'safe' with Google's incognito mode?
El incognito mode of apps and services like Google Chrome prevents a local record from being registered historial about our activity. But it does not prevent the collection of activity information associated with our Google account. Therefore, it is not a valid way to protect our privacy one hundred percent from these types of records.
Clear browser search history on Android
But it turns out that we have yet another way to clear recent searches, which turns out to be one of the most traditional. Let's start with the most basic part. If you don't want to keep track of the web pages you've accessed with Chrome, you can delete all or part of your browsing history. Keep in mind that if you do, your browsing history will also be deleted on all the devices on which you have activated the synchronization and signed in to Chrome.
If you don't want anyone to know the pages you have recently visited, the solution is to clear the history of Google Chrome, the Android browser. Let's see how to do it step by step:
- Open Chrome on your mobile and select the button with the three dots located at the top right.
- In the drop-down menu, select the 'History' option.
- Once inside History, you will see a list with all the pages visited in chronological order. Here you can choose whether delete only some by clicking on the X icon next to each of them or delete all browsing data.
- If you choose delete all browsing data, Chrome allows you to select the time, for example, only the data of today, of the whole week, of the month or of always. You can also choose whether to clear cookies and cached files (this is useful to free up space).