Our Google accounts have been by no means managed. Stuff went in, search pulled it out, and that was the entire system.
Each search was a deposit into Google’s reminiscence financial institution. A value to pay for higher GPS and quicker solutions.
However during the last 18 months, Google has rebuilt its relationship with us.
Gemini now runs by way of our pockets, Docs, and Maps. Google now collects context. It has an early biography of who you might be, what you worry, what you need, and even the way you communicate.
That’s why I made a decision to audit and handle what Google is aware of about me. What follows is a toggle-by-toggle information to how I arrange my Google account for 2026. Let’s get to work.
7 helpful Google account options you have undoubtedly forgotten about
Your Google account has many hidden layers
The AI audit: What Gemini remembers about you
That is the most recent entrance within the privateness struggle. For those who ignore every part else, take note of this part.
With Gemini set because the default, Google now observes our artistic and private processes.
Turning off Gemini’s reminiscence to guard your privateness
After I first opened the Gemini app to begin this audit, I seen it was already utilizing private historical past in our conversations. That is the brand new reminiscence characteristic Google rolled out globally in late 2025.
By default, Gemini references your previous chats to construct an image of who you might be. It’s switched on by default. To see precisely what Gemini knew, I requested.
Record every part you at the moment keep in mind about me from previous chats.
It knew who I used to be due to the CV I requested it to assist me construct. That’s on me, however in my protection, I had no concept this reminiscence characteristic existed once I did it.
Go to Gemini Settings > Private Context to see for your self. There’s a toggle for Your previous chats with Gemini for Gemini’s reminiscence. I switched it off.
I need an AI assistant that helps me within the second, not one which builds a psychological profile over months. That is the place you start to set clear boundaries.
Preserving exercise with a 3-month auto-delete window
Subsequent, go to Gemini Settings > Exercise. Right here, you could find a historical past of each immediate, file, and photograph you’ve shared with the AI.
I checked my historical past and located queries going again to early 2025.
Google makes use of samples of this exercise to coach its machine studying fashions and enhance its companies, and I don’t need that.
I switched off Hold Exercise. There’s additionally an choice to robotically delete knowledge after three months.
This lets Gemini keep helpful for ongoing duties, however neglect them in a while. Hold that in thoughts, there’s a short-term buffer of as much as 72 hours for security, even when exercise is turned off.
Your knowledge may also be reviewed by human annotators, although Google says it’s anonymized.
Subsequent, I checked the Gemini Dwell controls. For those who delete exercise from a Gemini Dwell chat, all associated audio, transcripts, and recordings are deleted too.
Managing the Internet & App Exercise for higher privateness management
Subsequent up is Internet & App Exercise. This setting controls the majority of the information Google collects.
It’s the primary change on your Google account, together with search historical past, Chrome historical past if you happen to sync it, Maps queries, Play Retailer exercise, and extra.
You’ll discover many privateness extremists telling you to change this off instantly. I disagree. Turning off Internet & App Exercise leaves the Google ecosystem in a near-lobotomized state.
The friction turns into insufferable for anybody utilizing it day-after-day. So as an alternative of killing the entire system, I choose to maintain the principle change on however aggressively flip off the sub-toggles that collect knowledge.
Sub-Toggle 1: Turning off voice and audio exercise
I take advantage of voice instructions on a regular basis. “Hey Google, flip off the lights.” “Hey Google, what’s 400 levels in Celsius?”
Google saved the precise audio information of those interactions. Google says it’s to enhance its audio tech.
My account hyperlinks to 1000’s of MP3 clips of my voice, some recorded within the privateness of my bed room or kitchen.
Inside Internet & App Exercise, I turned off Embrace voice and audio exercise.
Google’s speech recognition in 2026 is superb. It undoubtedly doesn’t want my particular voice clips to enhance. There’s no profit to me in storing these.
Sub-Toggle 2: Turning off visible search historical past
This setting caught me abruptly. It got here in as Google Lens, and Circle to Search turned broadly used.
While you use Lens to establish a flower, translate a menu, or scan a barcode, you’re mainly taking a photograph.
If this sub-setting is on, Google saves the picture to your historical past by default. Visible search feels far more private than textual content.
After I take an image of a menu at a restaurant, I’d unintentionally embody the face of the individual I’m with, a prescription bottle on the desk, or the bank card in my hand.
I don’t need that sort of archive saved someplace on-line. Inside Internet & App Exercise, I turned off Embrace Visible Search Historical past.
Customizing Google Adverts and limiting delicate subjects
We are able to’t ignore the elephant within the room, and that’s the advertisements you’re going to see.
Until you might have a network-level blocker like Pi-hole and a modded YouTube consumer, advertisements are a part of the bundle.
It’s the tax we pay totally free companies.
Now the difficulty isn’t that you simply see advertisements. It’s when these advertisements really feel psychologically dangerous.
Many individuals ignore Google’s My Advert Middle (myadcenter.google.com), but it surely’s top-of-the-line instruments in your privateness toolkit to guard your psychological well being.
It has a easy interface, and you’ll customise the advert subjects. Go to Customise Adverts > Delicate. It’s a sobering checklist of human vices and vulnerabilities.
You may select to restrict advertisements, comparable to:
- Alcohol
- Playing
- Relationship
- Weight Loss
- Being pregnant & Parenting
I turned on Restrict for Playing and Weight Loss. No playing points right here, however the flood of sports activities betting apps makes watching sports activities on YouTube an actual headache.
And relating to Weight Loss advertisements, I discover them downright predatory. I don’t want my telephone reminding me to lose ten kilos each time I lookup a cookie recipe.
Eradicating unused third-party permission tokens
Who hasn’t clicked Register with Google? Need to verify a flight tracker, play a recreation, or learn a information article behind a registration wall? It’s the quickest approach in.
The issue is that we don’t normally verify what permissions we’re giving, and relying on what you enable, these companies can entry your knowledge.
Some could even preserve these keys energetic eternally, to allow them to nonetheless do issues even if you happen to’re not utilizing them anymore.
Go to Handle your Google Account > Third-party apps & companies. I eliminated those I don’t use usually, or that regarded shady.
Discovering a adequate privateness state with Google
To be trustworthy, even in spite of everything these steps, Google nonetheless is aware of rather a lot about each of us.
It is aware of I’m scripting this on Chrome, my IP deal with, and that I watched a YouTube video on fixing a dishwasher final night time.
You may’t beat Google until you totally deGoogle your life. However I can’t, and that’s not even the purpose. As a substitute of giving Google a eternally storage, I’ve switched to short-term reminiscence.
It’s sensible for me however hostile to long-term profiling. Google will change the settings once more; it all the time does. New AIs and monitoring strategies will preserve coming. However for now, get pleasure from your (principally) non-public 12 months.