Google has made it easier for users to manage their Location History and Web & App Activity data. The company collects this data to improve the experience of its services and provide ads, but it can also be used to track users’ each and every move and build behavioural patterns.
Users already had an option to turn Location History on and off, but now, users will be able to control this automatically. Google’s new auto-delete controls for Location History and Web & App Activity data let users set auto deletion of data every 3 months or 18 months.
What it means is that you can now instruct Google to delete your private data every 3 or 18 months. Any data older than the selected choice will be automatically deleted from users’ account on an ongoing basis.
“We work to keep your data private and secure, and we’ve heard your feedback that we need to provide simpler ways for you to manage or delete it.,” Marlo McGriff and David Monsees, Product Managers at Google.
The option to set the 3 or 18 month deletion time is available in the My Activity tab on Google. Here, users will see an option to Choose to Delete Automatically. Users will still have an option to keep their data until they choose to delete it manually.
Google says that these controls are coming first to Location History and Web & App Activity. They will start rolling out in the coming weeks.
