Nine Changes You Need to Make to Your Google Security and Privacy Settings
There’s no doubt that Google is committed to tracking virtually everything you do on the web and inside its apps , but it’s also fair to say that the company puts a full suite of security and privacy tools at its users’ disposal. You can use these tools to manage data on everything from Google Maps to YouTube.
And data to manage: With Gmail, Gemini, Android, Chrome and all the other apps and services it runs, Google can collect a huge amount of information about you and what you do. It is important to ensure that this data is managed in a way that suits you and is protected from unauthorized access.
All of these security and privacy settings can be found by going to your Google account page on the web in your desktop browser.
Automatically erase data stored by Google.
If you click Data & Security and then Web & App Activity , you’ll see most of the data Google stores about you. There are many of them, in many categories – from Internet searches to movies you watched on Google TV – and you can delete any of these pieces of information individually or in batches depending on the date or application.
What’s more, you can set Google to automatically delete this data after a certain period of time. Click “Choose an automatic deletion option” and you can delete some or all of your data after 3, 18, or 36 months. It is also possible to completely disable data collection in these categories or to automatically delete only certain types of information.
Setting up recovery information
Hopefully your account will never be suspended, but if it does, Google will try to use your registered backup phone number and email address to verify your identity and restore access, so you’ll need to make sure this information is up to date. To do this, click “Security” and then “Backup phone” or “Backup email” to enter or change the information.
Customize the ads you see
Google ads are hard to avoid, but you can at least customize the ads you see. Under Data & Privacy, select My Ad Center to start making changes. The first setting you can change is to turn off personalized advertising completely. This won’t reduce the number of ads you see, but it will mean they aren’t targeted specifically at your audience.
For more granular settings, click any of the categories listed (such as Education or Industry ) to turn off personalized ads or correct Google’s assumptions about you (such as your relationship status). You can also click Customize Ads to change the topics of ads shown to you and turn off ads on sensitive topics such as weight loss or gambling.
Enable darknet reporting
Did you know that Google can warn you if your information ends up on the dark web? This alerts you to change your passwords or take additional precautions . In the Security tab of your Google account, click Start Monitoring under Darknet Report . You can then specify the information you want Google to track.
Location Transfer Management
From the Data & Privacy screen, you can control how Google tracks your location over time, as well as control which other people can see your location. Tap Timeline to customize how location history is saved on specific devices . You can disable this history completely or automatically delete it after a certain time.
Select Location Sharing under Data & Privacy to see which contacts are sharing their location with you, and vice versa (if you’ve set it up ). You can stop sharing your location with any of these people at any time, and you can set email reminders to periodically remind you that you have this feature turned on.
Check connected devices
This is a good check to do regularly: Under Security, click Manage all devices to see where you’re signed in to your Google account. If there are old devices you forgot about or other people are using your account when they shouldn’t, you can revoke permissions. You can also get help if you see an unfamiliar device.
Create a Digital Legacy Plan
It’s important to make a plan for the inevitable, if only to make life easier for the family and friends you leave behind. Google allows you to choose what happens to your data after you complete what’s called a digital legacy plan for your account.
If you click Data & Privacy and then Plan Your Digital Legacy , you can set this up. It’s not a particularly complicated or time-consuming process: you simply choose which contacts you want to give access to your data over a certain period of time (from three to 18 months) and which categories of data you want to leave available to them.
Deny access to third party applications
Connecting to apps and services using your Google Account is fast and convenient, but the more connections you have, the more vulnerable your account is. Remove outdated and unnecessary links to third-party apps by clicking Security and then View all connections .
Enable two-factor authentication
We’ve said it many times in the past and we’ll keep repeating it: two-factor authentication (2FA) is one of the best ways to protect your accounts because it means hackers need more than a username and password to gain access to your data. Typically, the code from the authentication app is also required when logging in to a new device.
To set up 2FA on your Google account (if you haven’t already), click Security , then Two-Step Verification , and follow the onscreen instructions. In addition to the authentication app, you get a choice of 2FA methods, which include sending verification requests to authorized devices (like your phone) and using a physical security key to log in.