Google is updating privacy settings for how some of its apps collect, save, and use your search data—including to train its AI models—so you should check which information is stored and opt out of anything you don’t want Google to keep.
How Google stores your search data
Google already allows users to customize which search data are saved and for how long via Web & App Activity settings, with options to automatically delete data after specified time frames or turn off data collection entirely. In a recent email to users, Google announced two new settings, titled Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations, for searches across Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News that will be separate from Web & App Activity.
When enabled, Search Services History will include any media you upload, such as images you search with Google Lens, audio spoken to Translate, voice searches, and any other files used in your interactions. Personalized Recommendations, meanwhile, will use data from Search Services History, as well as profile information and other activity across Google apps to, well, personalize search results. That includes AI responses and information relevant to your location.
If you’ve already limited what Google can access in your Web & App Activity, these settings will carry over to Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations as the new options roll out in the next few months. Alternatively, you can customize Search Services History specifically and turn Personalized Recommendations on or off from your Google Account under Data & privacy > Personalization settings. Note that if you don’t see these options yet, your privacy settings are still being controlled by Web & App Activity.
You can disable saved media in Search Services History
While disabling Google’s data collection completely is the most extreme option for protecting your privacy, it does limit how you use Google services, including search. A compromise might be to keep Google from saving your media via Search Services History while still allowing other data to inform your search results and recommendations. From My Google Activity, select Search Services History and check or uncheck the box next to Save Media. Note that this doesn’t delete previously saved media—for that, you’ll need to select View and delete saved history. (Again, if you don’t see these options in your account, it means this setting isn’t available to you yet.)
