How to See and Delete Your Google History (Complete Guide 2026)

Every search you make, every YouTube video you watch, every place you navigate to on Google Maps — Google logs all of it. This data is used to personalise ads, improve search suggestions, and build a profile of your interests.

You have the right to see exactly what Google has stored and delete any or all of it. This guide covers every type of Google history, how to view it, how to delete it — and how to stop Google from saving it going forward.

Where Google Stores Your History

All your Google activity lives in one place: My Activity at myactivity.google.com. This dashboard shows a chronological log of everything Google has tracked across its products while you were signed in.

The main categories of history Google stores:

How to View Your Google Search History

On Desktop (Browser)

1. Go to myactivity.google.com and sign in
2. Your full activity log appears in reverse chronological order
3. Use the Search your activity bar at the top to find specific terms
4. Click Filter by date & product to filter by type (Web & App Activity, YouTube, Maps, etc.)
5. Each entry shows the search term or page visited, the date and time, and which Google product recorded it

On Mobile (Android or iPhone)

Via Google App:

1. Open the Google app
2. Tap your profile picture (top right)
3. Tap Search history
4. Your recent searches appear — scroll to see older ones

Via Google Account Settings:

1. Go to myactivity.google.com in your phone's browser
2. Sign in and browse your full history — same as desktop

How to View Your YouTube History

1. Go to youtube.com and sign in
2. Click your profile picture → Your data in YouTube, or
3. Open the History tab from the left sidebar
4. This shows your watch history — videos you've viewed while signed in
5. Your YouTube search history is separate: go to myactivity.google.com → Filter by YouTube → select YouTube search history

How to View Your Google Maps Location History

1. Open Google Maps on your phone or at maps.google.com
2. Tap your profile picture → Your Timeline
3. This shows a day-by-day log of places visited, routes taken, and time spent at each location
4. You can browse by day, month, or year

Google Maps Timeline only exists if you have Location History turned on. Many people have it on without realising.

How to Delete Google History

Delete Specific Items

1. Go to myactivity.google.com
2. Find the item you want to delete
3. Click the three dots (⋮) next to that item
4. Click Delete

This removes only that individual entry.

Delete a Range of History

1. At myactivity.google.com, click Delete activity by in the left panel (or under the search bar on mobile)
2. Choose a time range: Last hour, Last day, All time, or Custom range
3. Select which products to delete from (All products, or specific ones like YouTube, Search)
4. Click Delete → confirm

Delete All Google History (Everything, All Time)

1. Go to myactivity.google.com
2. Click Delete activity by → All time → All products
3. Click Delete
4. Confirm — this permanently erases all activity Google has stored for your account

This cannot be undone.

How to Delete YouTube History Separately

Watch History:

1. Go to youtube.com → History (left sidebar)
2. Click Clear all watch history on the right
3. Confirm

Search History:

1. On the same History page, click Search history (top of the page)
2. Click Clear all search history
3. Confirm

On Mobile:

1. Open YouTube → tap your profile picture → Manage all history
2. This takes you to My Activity filtered for YouTube
3. Tap Delete → choose your range

How to Delete Google Maps Location History

Delete a single day:

1. Open Google Maps → your profile → Your Timeline
2. Navigate to the day you want to remove
3. Tap the three dots (⋮) → Delete day

Delete all Location History:

1. In Your Timeline, tap the settings gear (bottom right on mobile) or Timeline settings
2. Tap Delete all Location History
3. Confirm

How to Stop Google From Saving History Going Forward

Deleting history clears what's stored, but Google continues saving new activity unless you turn off the relevant settings.

Turn Off Web & App Activity

1. Go to myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols
2. Under Web & App Activity, click the toggle to Off
3. Confirm — Google will no longer log your searches or Chrome activity

Turn Off YouTube History

On the same Activity Controls page:

1. Scroll to YouTube History
2. Toggle Watch History and Search History off individually

Turn Off Location History

1. On the Activity Controls page, scroll to Location History
2. Toggle it Off
3. Confirm — Google Maps Timeline will stop recording new visits

Turn Off Voice & Audio Activity

1. On the Activity Controls page, scroll to Voice & Audio Activity
2. Toggle it Off

Set Auto-Delete (Recommended Middle Ground)

If you want some history for personalised suggestions but don't want it saved forever:

1. On the Activity Controls page, click on Web & App Activity
2. Under Auto-delete, click Choose an auto-delete option
3. Select 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months
4. Google automatically deletes older entries on a rolling basis

This is a good balance between personalisation and privacy.

How to Delete Google History on iPhone (Safari or Chrome)

If you use Google Search in Safari on iPhone while signed into your Google account, that activity is still logged in your Google account (not Safari's browser history — those are separate).

To clear Google history logged from iPhone:

1. Go to myactivity.google.com in any browser on your iPhone
2. Follow the same deletion steps as above

To clear Safari's own browser history separately:

1. Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data

These are independent — clearing Safari history does not clear your Google account history, and vice versa.

Does Deleting Google History Affect Anything?

After deleting your Google history:

• Search suggestions become less personalised — Google won't suggest things based on your past searches
• Google Discover (the news feed) shows less targeted content
• YouTube recommendations reset — the algorithm starts fresh
• Maps Timeline is gone for deleted periods — you can't recover it
• Ad targeting resets — you'll see less personalised ads temporarily

None of this affects your ability to use Google products. Everything still works — it just becomes less personalised until Google builds a new picture based on new activity.

Privacy at a Glance

For more privacy and tech guides, browse Humbaa's AI tools directory and read our guide on how to hide your friends list on Facebook.