Having been in existence for two decades now, almost all of us rely on Google Search to get through with things in our daily life. In most occasions, your searches would revolve around your work, commute, or things that interest you but there might also be situations when you’re searching for some sensitive information or something you don’t want Google to suggest you about in the future.
To keep your search data safe, Google is introducing a new privacy feature that makes sure that whatever you recently looked up using its search tool can be deleted instantly. In this post, we’ll explain what this feature is all about, and how to use it on your phone.
Why the need for deleting the last 15 mins of search history?
In a move to add an extra layer of protection to your Search history, Google has added a new tool that lets you instantly erase whatever you searched for on Google in the last 15 minutes. This is to make sure that Google doesn’t suggest future articles and news regarding the topics you searched for recently or if there’s some other reason you don’t want Google’s search algorithm to learn your searched topics.
The feature is available only inside the Google app for now but we can expect similar options available in the future for when you’re browsing the internet on your PC. Because of this option, you can now safely search for something on Google without needing to switch to Incognito mode on your browser or Google app.
Prior to this, the Google app on iOS and Android only allowed you to delete search data for today or a custom range of dates. With this new feature, the company now gives you a way to delete your recent search history without needing to delete the history for the entire day.
How to Delete Last 15 Minutes of Your Google Search History
The ability to delete the last 15 minutes of your search history is available if you have the Google app installed on your phone. To make sure you have the feature, update the Google app from the App Store on iOS or Google Play Store on Android.
Note: The new Delete tool is currently only available on iOS but Google has confirmed that it will arrive in the Android Google app later this year.
Now, to delete your last 15 minutes of search history, first open the Google app on your phone and tap on your account picture at the top right corner.
In the overflow menu that appears, select the ‘Delete last 15 mins’ option on the screen.
Google will now delete your search history and anything you searched for in the last 15 minutes will be removed from your account. When you do that, you should see the “Deleting search history from your Google account” message at the bottom of the Google app.
Can’t find ‘Delete last 15 min’ on my phone. Why?
If you’re unable to find the ‘Delete last 15 mins’ option on your screen, there might be a bunch of reasons why that could be happening.
- You’re not using the Google app: The ability to delete your search history from the last 15 minutes can only be done using the Google app and won’t be available if you’re using Google Chrome or Google Search on the web.
- You haven’t updated the Google app on your phone: The new feature comes as part of an update to the Google app (mostly server-side). So, you need to make sure you’re on the latest version of the app on your device.
- You’re using the Google app on Android: For now, the ‘Delete last 15 mins’ option can only be found inside the Google app on iOS. If you’re on an Android phone, the feature will arrive later this, as has been confirmed by Google but it’s not there yet.
- The feature hasn’t yet reached your account: Although most app-based features require you to download the latest updates, some of them are rolled out server-side, meaning the rollout is a gradual one. If you can’t access it yet, it means that the feature is yet to reach your Google account but might arrive soon.
That’s all you need to know about deleting your recent Google search history.
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