Facebook may be in the hot seat over its fast and loose user privacy policies, and you should totally give yourself a Facebook privacy checkup using the company’s existing and updated tools. But while you’re at it, you might want to check out Google, too. The search giant has even more data on you than Facebook. And just like Facebook, Google shares some of your data with third-parties as long as you agree with it. That even includes third-party apps you log into using your Google account. And given that Facebook’s privacy scandal started with an app that got ahold of Facebook user data, you might want to review the apps that have access to your Google account to help prevent that might pop up down the road.
Just like Facebook, Google lets you manage some of that data in the My Account section of your Google Account. It’s really easy to access the section by heading to https://myaccount.google.com/ on your computer. On mobile, as CNBC points out, all you have to do is check the Settings section of the Google app and go to the My Account tab.
Once there, search for the Apps with account access option in the Sign-in & security section. Click or tap on that, and Google will show you all the apps that you’ve signed into using your Google credentials, and what data they can access as a result.
If you frequently use this Google feature, then you might want to do this a few times a year just to weed out old apps you no longer use. It’s definitely convenient to sign into third-party apps and services using your Google account instead of having to remember or store yet another password, but be sure to remove access once you’re done with an app for good. Some apps obtain access to a lot more data than others, so pay special attention to those.
