How to View and Manage Your Personal Google History? [2025 Update]

Curious how to view and manage your personal Google history?

Google saves some activity to your account to personalize things (Search, Maps, YouTube, etc.). From My Activity you can review, delete, pause, or auto-delete data. Note: deleting from your Google Account doesn’t clear your browser’s local history — that’s a separate step in Chrome/Safari/Firefox.

Take control. Here’s the fast, up-to-date way to manage it in 2025.

How do you view and manage your personal Google history in 10 steps?

Action	Description
Access Google Account ????	Open myaccount.google.com (your control center for Google data & privacy).
Data & privacy ????	In the left menu, click Data & privacy. This is where “History settings” live.
History settings ????	Find the cards for Web & App Activity, Location History (Maps Timeline), and YouTube History.
Web & App Activity ????????	Open the card to view or pause activity. Optional sub-settings: “Include Chrome history…”, “Include voice & audio activity”, and “Include Visual Search History.” Learn more.
Manage Activity ????️	Click Manage activity to see the timeline; use the search bar and filters; delete individual items or topics. How to view & control activity.
Location History (Timeline) ????	Timeline now saves on your device by default, with optional encrypted backup. Manage in the Google Maps app. Manage Timeline · What changed.
Turn tracking on/off ????	Use the toggles on each card (Web & App Activity, Location History, YouTube History) in Activity Controls.
Auto-delete ⏲️	Set Auto-delete to 3, 18, or 36 months (per activity type). Auto-delete help.
YouTube History ????	Review, pause, or clear watch/search history. Pausing watch history reduces homepage recommendations. Watch history · Search history.
Check other controls ????	My Ad Center for ad personalization, Results about you to find/remove your personal info in Search, and Privacy Checkup.

Understanding Your Google History

“History” covers searches, sites visited (if Chrome history is included), app usage, voice interactions (if you opt in), places you’ve been (if Location History is on), and YouTube activity. You can view it in My Activity, pause it in Activity Controls, and export it via Google Takeout.

Accessing My Activity

1. Go to My Activity.
2. Use the Data & privacy → My Activity path if you’re navigating from your account home.
3. Filter by date/product or search for specific items.

Exploring Your Activity

Entries are grouped by day/time. Click an item’s Details to see metadata (time, app, device; sometimes location). Use the three-dot menu to delete or report issues.

Deleting Activity

Delete one item, a topic, a day, a custom range, or set Auto-delete at 3/18/36 months. Delete activity help.

Steps to Access Your Google Activity

Sign in to your Google Account

Use myaccount.google.com and confirm you’re on the correct profile (top-right avatar).

Go to Activity Controls

Left menu → Data & privacy → Activity Controls. Here you can pause/resume Web & App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History, and manage sub-settings (Chrome history, voice & audio, visual search).

The different types of data stored

• Web & App Activity: searches, Assistant, Maps queries, app usage; optional Include Chrome history, Include voice & audio, Include Visual Search History. Details.
• Location History (Timeline): where you’ve been; now device-based with optional encrypted backup. Manage.
• YouTube History: watch and search history for recommendations. Watch · Search.

Viewing Your Web & App Activity

Open the card → Manage activity. Filter by date/product (Search, Assistant, Maps, etc.). If you don’t want Chrome browsing saved to your account, uncheck “Include Chrome history…” on the card (you can still manage browser history locally in Chrome).

Filtering by date or product

Use the filter bar to zero in on a date range (e.g., last Friday) or a product (e.g., YouTube, Ads, Assistant). Then select items → Delete or choose Delete results for bulk removal.

What you can find

Searches, site visits (if included), app opens, Assistant requests, and sometimes associated signals like device or approximate location.

Managing Your Search History

From My Activity, open the Web & App Activity card → Auto-delete (3/18/36 months) or delete items/ranges. On mobile Google app, you can also “Delete last 15 minutes.” Guide.

Controlling Your Location History

Location History (Maps Timeline) is off by default. If you use it, your Timeline is stored on-device with an option to back up an encrypted copy to Google’s servers for restore across devices. Manage it in the Maps app (Timeline > settings & backup). How it works · Policy change.

Checking Your YouTube History

Sidebar → History in YouTube, or manage from your account’s YouTube History controls. Pausing watch history reduces personalized recommendations. Watch history help.

Understanding Ad Personalization

Visit My Ad Center to turn ad personalization on/off, review sensitive ad categories, and see how Web & App Activity is used for ads. My Ad Center help.

Privacy Considerations and Tips

• Privacy Checkup: Guided review of key settings. Open.
• Results about you: Find/remove your personal info from Google Search. Open.
• Export: Download a copy of your data with Google Takeout.
• Browser vs Account: Clearing My Activity ≠ clearing browser history. Manage Chrome via Delete browsing data.
• Incognito: Stops saving to local browser history, but signed-in activity can still save to your account if you sign in. Details.

Why Does Google Track Your Activity?

Personalization, faster results, and better recommendations. You control what’s saved, for how long, and whether it’s used for ads. Privacy policy highlights.

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How to View Your Google Activity

1. Go to My Activity.
2. Explore the dashboard with filters for date/product.
3. Use the three-dot menus to delete, or set Auto-delete from the activity card.

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Managing Your Google History

1. Delete individual items ????️

• Open My Activity → find the item → three dots → Delete.

2. Clear by date or product ????

• In My Activity, choose Delete activity by and pick a day, range, or “All time,” or filter by product then Delete results.

3. Pause tracking ⏸️

• Use Activity Controls to pause Web & App Activity, Location History, or YouTube History.

4. Set Auto-delete ????

• Choose 3/18/36 months for each history type. How-to.

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Does deleting your Google history really work?

Deleting removes it from your account’s dashboards and most systems that personalize your experience. Per Google’s policy, some logs/aggregates may be retained for security and reliability, but they’re decoupled from your identity. Policy.

Conclusion

Review your activity, set auto-delete, pause what you don’t want saved, and use My Ad Center + Results about you. Finally, clear your browser history separately if needed. Simple, private, and tidy.

— Sources used (official): My Activity, View & control activity, Web & App Activity, Auto-delete, Maps Timeline, Timeline device-based change, YouTube watch history, YouTube search history, My Ad Center, Results about you, Google Takeout, Delete Chrome browsing data, Privacy policy.