For all the hoopla surrounding NSA surveillance activities, it’s shockingly easy to forget that Google often knows an awful a lot about more than 1 billion users across the globe. Google knows what you search for, what videos you watch, what music you listen to, and even the places you travel to. Of course, Google having access to this information doesn’t quite shock the system given that Google users are typically all too happy and willing to sacrifice a bit of their privacy in exchange for a wide array of free and useful services.
DON’T MISS: 5 hidden Galaxy S7 features I wish my iPhone had
Still, even for those of us who don’t mind Google accumulating and processing our personalized information, there’s something jarring and eerie about seeing, in precise detail, everything Google knows about us. Highlighting this interesting dynamic, The Telegraph recently put together a quick and dirty primer which demonstrates how users can quickly and easily take a gander at all of the information Google has about them.
First things first, make sure you’re signed into your Google account. Following that, go to http://history.google.com/history and you’ll be able to see a breakdown of how many searches you’ve done throughout your Google career. The site will also provide you with a breakdown of which days during the week you happen to use Google most. What’s more, you can even see which domains you tend to click on the most following a Google search. Lastly, Google’s web activity profile lets you breakdown your search history across time, with “all time”, “last month” and “last week” being three options users can filter by.
Second, if you go to the google.com/history page listed above, you’ll note the presence of three vertical dots towards the upper right of the screen. If you select that, this opens up the “Activity controls” pane. Next, select “Show More Controls”, after which you can access a list of all the places you’ve been, the voice searches and commands you’ve given, along with videos you’ve both watched and viewed on YouTube. Notably, if you’re wary about Google storing this information, you can toggle the tracking settings for each metric on and off.
Make sure to hit the source link below for the full recap detailing how to see just how much Google knows about you.
