If you have embarrassing search words left on your home computer if your family sees them... How to easily delete or hide Google search history

The "search history" that appears when you click on Google's search box. You can instantly see what you have searched for in the past, so it's a useful function, but... If you have keywords that you don't want others to see, you won't be able to find them when someone sees them or when you lend your device. It's embarrassing, isn't it?

To avoid embarrassment, let's see how to delete or hide Google history!

How to view your Google search history

First, I will show you how to view and check your Google search history before deleting or hiding it. Basically, if you haven't set anything up, a single click on Google's search box will display up to 10 search histories. If you want to know more about your search history, log in to your Google account and access "My Activity". As you scroll the screen, you can see what and when you searched.

Do not show history! How to Hide Your Google Search History

Now that you know how to check your history, let's find out how to hide your history.

To hide your search history, log in to your Google account and access Activity Management. Scroll down until you see "Web & App Activity" and turn it off.

This will hide your search history. Please note that it may take some time for the settings to be reflected.

Next, I will show you how to hide Google search history on your smartphone.

How to hide Google's search history from iPhone (browser used: Safari) is as follows. The setting must be done while logged in to your Google account.

1: Access "Activity Management". 2: Turn off (pause) "Web & App Activity".

Your search history will now be hidden from your logged-in Google account.

The method to hide Google search history on Android is basically the same as the PC version and iPhone. Once you have access to your Google account, follow these steps.

1: Access Activity Management. 2: Turn off (pause) "Web & App Activity". * When the settings are reflected, you can confirm that "Web & App Activity" is turned off (pause) as shown in the rightmost image above.

The first possibility is that you are not logged into your Google account. Google's search history and browsing history are accumulated in the logged-in account information (activity). Therefore, if you are not logged in to your Google account, there are cases where the history is not saved.

For example, when you want to look up "weather in Tokyo", you enter "Tokyo weather" in the Google search box, don't you? Then, just by entering "Tokyo" in the search box, various search candidates will be displayed. If you find inappropriate or discriminatory keywords, report them to Google.

In the bottom right of the search box, there is "Report inappropriate search suggestions", so click here. Then, the following screen will be displayed, so let's select the keyword you think is inappropriate and the reason why it is inappropriate and click "Send".

How to delete Google search history

Next, I will introduce how to delete search history. The search history can be deleted manually from the "My Activity" mentioned above, but it can also be deleted automatically by setting the retention period.

◆To delete manually, click "... (vertical)" from My Activity and select "Delete".

When you access "My Activity", there is "Select automatic deletion", so click here. Choose how long to save your search history (18 months or 3 months) and save your settings. Search history older than 18 months or 3 months will be automatically deleted.

Let's clear Google's search history by setting a period on your smartphone.

1: Go to "My Activities". 2: Tap "... (vertical)" next to the search box at the top of the screen. 3: Tap "Activity deletion criteria". 4: Select the period to delete the search history and delete it.

As of now (as of October 2019), there seems to be no way to restore Google history once deleted as described above. There may not be many cases where you want to restore the history, but if you have search history that you don't want to lose, be careful not to delete the corresponding history when deleting all at once.

If your browser is Internet Explorer, you can search for keywords and check history from the Google toolbar. The toolbar is displayed at the top of the browser screen. Since there is a ▼ mark next to the search box, click here and select "Clear history" to clear the search history.

*Data is based on research by the editorial department as of October 2019. *Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information, we do not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the content. * Please use the service at your own risk.

Text / Takeru Takazawa