Google has announced new privacy improvements and data retention practices across its products to give users more control.
The tech giant states that activity data will automatically and continuously be deleted after 18 months, rather than kept until deleted if they select ‘auto-delete’ in their settings.
“This means your activity data will be automatically and continuously deleted after 18 months, rather than kept until you choose to delete it. You can always turn these settings off or change your auto-delete option,” the company stated in a blog post.
Current users’ settings won’t be impacted, but Google will be issuing reminders about the feature. It is already doing so, as its Search pages currently reads: “Easily set an expiration date for your data. Turn on Auto-delete.”
Further, Google has made it easier to launch incognito mode by long-pressing on your profile picture in Search, Maps and YouTube. This feature is currently only available on the Google app for iOS, but will be coming to Android and other apps soon.
It’s also working on a way to make it possible to stay in incognito mode across Google apps, like Maps and YouTube. Google says it will have more to share on this soon.
The tech giant is also making it easier to access key Google Account controls form Search. It notes that users will soon be able to search for things like “Google Privacy Checkup” and “Is my Google Account secure?” Then a box only visible to you will show your privacy and security settings so you can review or adjust them.
Google says that it is going to continue to make advances in privacy-preserving technologies and invest in thousands of privacy engineers to make its products stronger.
Image credit: Google
Source: Google
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