Here's how you can auto-delete Google history
What's the story
At its recently concluded I/O 2019 event, Google announced some privacy and security features to address the looming concern of data protection in the ever-evolving digital age. However, while most of the new features will arrive with Android Q sometime later this year, the tech giant currently offers an auto-delete tool that lets you remove all the information it has on you. Here's more.
Explained
What is Google's auto-delete data feature?
The auto-delete data feature, currently available for Web & App Activity, lets you control the time for which your data remains stored with Google. So, if you want to delete your browsing and app-related history, you can set a time frame of 3-months or 18-months and after the expiry of the time period, all Web & App Activity data will be automatically deleted.
Information
By default, Google stores your data until you manually delete
Google, by default, stores all your Web & Activity data until you manually delete it. Hence, to avoid the hassle of manually deleting this data, you can use the auto-delete data feature to remove the stored data automatically by setting a time limit.
Process
Here's how you can enable auto-delete data feature
To proceed, log in to account.google.com on the browser or open Google App on your phone. Now, head to Take the Privacy Checkup, then to Web & Activity section and select Choose to delete automatically. Under this section, you'll have the option to keep the data until you delete manually and the option to automatically delete the data in 3-months or 18-months.
Major update
New controls for privacy and security in Android Q
Interestingly, Android Q Beta 3 brings new privacy settings, giving users more control over their data and location. Under the new features, users have greater choice over when to give an app access to location while Scoped Storage limits storage access as much as possible, even for apps. Privacy features also include blocking of unwanted app launches in the background and prevents online tracking.
Information
Google has also announced Project Mainline for device security
Google is also introducing a new framework called Project Mainline. The tech giant says it is a "new approach to keeping Android users secure and their devices up-to-date with important code changes, direct from Google Play", without requiring device makers to issue an update.