The tech giant, Google has unveiled a new privacy tool that allows users to remove their saved search history from the last 15 minutes.
The feature is available in the Google app on Apple iOS and will come to Android devices later this year. The company claims that the new tool will add extra protection to the search history saved to the user’s Google account.
The feature was first revealed in May at Google I/O (Input/Output) conference and is now available on iOS. This is important if users share their cellphone with others and don’t want to manually wipe history from the settings. The Google app can also clear search activity every 3, 18, or 36 months if the option is turned on.
Google made clear that it only tracks user’s search history to “personalize” their experience when the “Web and App Activity” setting is enabled. Adding a way to instantly delete the history is great for peace of mind, but it also means that users can be protected from the people who breach their settings without doing extra work.
Google said that with this setting, users will need to provide additional information like password or two-factor authentication before their full history can be viewed and also that it will also proactively notify users if it discovers that any of these passwords have been compromised and whether users reused them across multiple sites.
It’s an emergency “oh no” button, according to Google, to wipe private searches. If users would rather keep their searches safe from prying eyes than remove them, Google has the option to password-protect their search history.
Every day, Google Safe Browsing protects over four billion devices by showing warnings when users attempt to navigate to risky websites or download dangerous files.
