How to Password-protect Your Google Activity History
Google now allows you to password-protect your Google account’s My Activity page so that others sharing your device can’t snoop on your online activity.
When you use Google products, such as Google Search, Gmail, Google News, the Play Store, Maps, and YouTube, the company will record what activities you performed on these services.
This activity is used to tailor their services and advertisements to your particular interests or improve their products.
Users of Google services can see their collected activity by going to the ‘My Activity‘ page, which lists your recent activity and allows you to delete stored data.
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If you are on a shared device or leave your computer unlocked and are afraid that people may check what you have been searching for, Google has recently added a feature that password-protects this page.
As first reported by Android Police, when enabled, instead of automatically allowing logged in Google account users to view tracked data, it will first prompt them to enter their password before granting access.
How to password-protect the Google My Activity page
To password-protect your My Activity and prevent people from snooping on your activity, you can enable a new My Activity verification feature by following these steps.
- Go to Google’ My Activity page in your browser.
- When the page opens, look for a link titled ‘Manage My Activity verification,’ as shown below, and click on it.
- Manage My Activity verification link
- A dialog box will open asking if you wish to require extra verifications before accessing the My Activity page. Select the ‘Require extra verification‘ option and then click on Save.
Manage My Activity verification dialog - After saving, you will be prompted to log into your Google account again to save the changes.
Login to your account to save the changes - Once you log in, the My Activity page will be displayed again, but this time the page will not show your search activity.
Instead, you will be shown a Verify button that you need to click to view your data.
My Activity verify button - Once you click the Verify button, you will be prompted to enter your password again to unlock the page and view your activity.
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Now that the My Activity page is password-protected, it will not be possible for anyone to view your search and browsing activity without knowing your password.
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