However, one of the most important changes is that Google will auto-delete your location history and web & app activity 18-months later — after you first turn them on. Now, web & app activity is turned on by default as soon as you make a Google account. However, location history is turned off by default, and you would need to turn it on explicitly by going into your account settings. Google’s auto-delete function is not new. The company rolled out this feature last year to manage your activity with options to auto-delete your history after three or 18 months. If you haven’t turned on auto-delete, it takes a couple of steps to do it:
Head to your Google account’s activity page on desktop or mobile. Go to the auto-delete section under Web & App Activity, Location History, or YouTube History. Select the auto-delete duration.
The company has come under fire for its location data collecting practices in past few months. In February, The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) ordered a probe into Google’s processing and transparency framework related to location data. Last month, Arizona sued the search giant over tracking users even after they turned off location services. This auto-delete by default functionality might earn the company some brownie points. You can read about all of Google’s new privacy-related announcements here.
