Google’s new ‘quick delete’ erases the last 15 mins of your search history | ZDNet

Google is rolling out new privacy-focused features for those who sign into search with a Google Account. 

Now, in the Google Account Menu, there’s a new “quick delete” option on the Google mobile app that deletes the last 15 minutes of search history with a tap of a button. The option is viewable by tapping the avatar icon and selecting “Delete last 15 minutes”.

Google announced the feature at its IO 2021 conference this May. It’s a mobile-only option and is available now in the Google iOS app and is coming to the Android Google app “later this year”, says Google.

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It offers users a simple two-click option to get rid of anything in their search history that a person might want deleted as soon as the mobile search has been completed. 

Google Search web users, meanwhile, are gaining “auto-delete” controls that let people choose to automatically and continuously delete their search history at specified intervals. Users can instruct Google to purge Web & App Activity from an account after three, 18 or 36 months. 

Google says that enabling Web & App Activity allows it to tailor the experience across Google services by saving search history. This history can be deleted from the My Activity section of user settings. 

Catering to people who share a device with family or friends, Google now lets users lock their My Activity page. Protecting this section of the account requires a password or two-factor authentication to view the records of a user’s search history.  

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Another key privacy feature Google announced at I/O was the ability to passcode-protect a Locked Folder in the Photos app. 

This lets phone owners hand a device to a friend to show a photo on the camera roll without having to worry the person scrolls down to a sensitive pic. This rolled out to Pixel devices in August and is coming to other Android devices this year.