You’re not deleting your search history entirely — here’s how to clear it for good

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Youre not deleting your search history entirely — heres how

You might think you’ve deleted questionable search history from your browser, but think again. YouTube and Google keep your search history unless you use a specific setting.

Online privacy is an important issue for many people and many prefer to keep their search history private. But did you know that Google and YouTube keep your search history even if you delete it from your browser? This affects all users who have not made a crucial setting change. Although it is always possible that traces of your search history persist, taking the following steps will provide an additional layer of privacy protection for your Internet searches.

Regarding your YouTube views first, there are several methods you can use to delete your search history. The first option is to delete individual search queries within the app. By opening the YouTube app, selecting the search bar, then tapping and holding one of the suggested search results with the History icon (which looks like a clock) next to it, you can choose the ‘Delete’ option in the pop-up window that appears.

Otherwise, you can change your settings in the YouTube app to prevent your search history from being saved. To do this, click on your profile picture, go to Settings, then select Manage all history. Once you see the Save YouTube history option, turn off ‘Include your YouTube searches’.

Clear Google Search History. © Google Capture

The Google search app for its part is one of the most convenient features of Android, as it allows users to quickly get search results by tapping the search bar on the home screen. Like YouTube, you can tap and hold on specific search results to clear them from your phone’s history. Here’s how to manually delete this history:

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google app
  2. At the top right, tap your profile photo or initial > Research activity.
  3. Select the search history to delete. You can choose :
    • All search history : Above your history, tap DELETE > Delete all activity.
    • A specific period : Above your history, tap DELETE Delete a custom range.
    • A specific day : Next to the day, tap Delete all activities from [jour] .
    • A specific activity : Next to the activity, tap Delete activity.

Your best bet is to set Google to automatically delete your searches so they aren’t saved. To do this, proceed as follows:

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google app.
  2. At the top right, tap your profile photo or initial > Search history > Settings.
  3. On the Web & App Activity card, tap Automatic deletion (disabled).
    • If the “Auto-delete (enabled)” option is displayed, Google automatically deletes your web and app activity, including your search history, after a specified period of time. To change this period or turn it off, tap Automatic deletion (enabled).
  4. Follow the instructions on the screen.

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