The entire online world has become a vast marketplace. We, the Internet users, have become potential customers to millions of businesses out there. This is why many online platforms started to track, record, and store our information, only to sell it to the highest bidder. Google is no different, as it records what we’ve searched for, where we’ve been, what we’ve watched, and so on.
If this information seems scary, you should know that there is something that you can do about it. If you have no idea where to begin, don’t worry. We are here to help you. Here is how to minimize what Google knows about you.
Google Photos
While Google Photos is a handy feature, this service helps Google learn a lot about you and your life. The latest updates enabled Google Photos to recognize people on your images, build a profile of your activities, and determine the location by identifying landmarks in your photos. If you think this is an invasion of your privacy, here’s a detailed article on how to delete Google photos and a short version bellow.
You can backup your photos and download them from your Google Drive. Access Google Drive, click Settings and check the box in front of the Create a Google Photos folder. Download your photos. After the download is complete, delete the folder. This will remove Google Photos from the drive and all devices that are synced with your account.
Now you can delete the app, or keep it safely by opening it, taping on Settings, and turning off the “Backup & Sync” option.
Your Location
Google is open about tracking and recording your location. Their explanation and reasoning – “To provide you with a more useful experience on Google.” Based on your location, Google might serve you with a suggestion or two – what you should see, visit, taste, watch, and so on.
By tracking your location, Google provides personalized features. This includes all Google services and products. For instance, Google can completely understand your daily commute pattern and feed you suggestions about which road to pick and how long will it take you to get to home/work.
Maybe you don’t remember, but back in 2017, Google openly admitted that they tracked user location data even when the setting was turned off. They’ve fixed the issue with an update allowing users to disable location tracking as they please.
If you had this enabled, you first want to go and delete your Location History. Take your Android phone or tablet and go to Settings > Google > Google Account; tap on Data & personalization. Access the Activity Controls and tap Location History. Find Manage Timeline at the bottom. This will open Google Maps, where you should access the Settings option located on the main menu. At the bottom, you can Delete all Location History, or you can delete some of it. To do via your browser, visit this link.
After you delete the Location History, you can disable Location Services by opening Settings > Security & Location > Location and ten choosing to disable the option.
Applications and Section
Every app you have installed on your devices asked for specific privileges. If you are using these apps, this means that you have given the required permissions. Some of these permissions may violate your privacy – access your SMS messages, your emails, phone contacts, social media accounts, Google accounts, and so on. The apps ask for privileges so that they can work better and offer a better user experience, but if your camera app asks for access to your contacts, it means that something fishy is going on. We would advise to check all of the app permissions in the “My Account” section. You can review each entry and revoke the privileges by clicking the Remove Access button.
Adds
Google also tracks and records your online behavior to sell it to partners for advertising purposes. Over time, Google figured out the topics that interest you, and they inform advertisers about them. You can easily edit this information by visiting the “Ads Settings” section. Just click on each interest and turn it off. You can also enable or disable Ad personalization on the same page. However, this will result in you seeing more irrelevant ads.
By following these steps, you will significantly minimize what Google knows about you and reduce the chances of some vital and personal information leaking or ending up in the hands of the wrong kind of people.