Everything Google knows about you can be revealed with just a few clicks on your smartphone or computer.
It goes way beyond where you live, your age, your interests, and your favorite stores: the search engine knows more than some of the people closest to you.
Google Maps knows all the countries, cities, attractions and local routes you have visited. And its ad personalization system uses your search history, browsing data, and screen time to generate.
So use our guide to access three creepy lists that may reveal yourself:
Everything Google knows about you can be revealed with a few simple clicks on your smartphone or computer.
Google Maps knows all the countries, cities and attractions you have visited
If you have location history enabled in your Google account, take a trip down memory lane with the Google Maps timeline.
This feature allows you to see exactly where you have traveled in the past, up to a specific time and the route you took to get there.
● Sign in to your Google account, then open Google Maps.
● Click the hamburger menu in the upper left corner.
● Choose Your Timeline > Your Places > Visited.
● Open the Google Maps application.
● Touch your profile or initials > Your timeline.
Now that you’ve walked down memory lane, you might want to rethink your setup.
● On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps timeline. Tap Settings > Pause location history.
● On your Android, open Google Maps, touch your profile or initial, and select Your timeline > More > Settings and privacy. Turn off location history.
● If you’re on a computer, go to Timeline, click Settings > Pause Location History.
Location data for every photo you’ve taken
Location tracking in the Google Photos app comes down to metadata: the hidden data embedded in the photos you take.
If you don’t turn off location tracking for pictures, your photos will reveal where you were when you took them, among other things.
Whether or not you want to turn off location tracking, you first need to see all the data that Google Photos has collected.
Location tracking in the Google Photos app comes down to metadata: the hidden data embedded in the photos you take
Here are two ways to check Google Photos and see everything Google knows about you:
● Open the Google Photos app.
● In the bottom bar, touch Search.
● In the Places section, touch See all.
Now you can see all your location history. You can even use the map to find photos by location.
You can also check location data on your computer, but it won’t be as complete as what you see on your smartphone app. That is how:
● First, go to photos.google.com.
● Touch a specific image and click the Information button.
If you want to prevent Google Photos from tracking your location data, please do the following:
● Open Google Photos.
● In the upper right corner, click Settings.
● Select the Sharing tab.
● Touch or click the slider that says Hide photo location data.
Ad personalization is based on many things:
● Personal information that you voluntarily added to your Google account.
● Data from Google partner advertisers.
● Google’s algorithms, which are incredibly adept at learning what you like.
If you have Ads Personalization enabled, you can see what Google knows about you based on your search history, browsing data, and more.
It’s not always 100 percent accurate, but it can get pretty close.
To check, go to your Google account, then tap or click Privacy and personalization.
If you have Ads Personalization enabled, you can see what Google knows about you based on your search history, browsing data, and more.
In the Ad Settings sections, tap or click Ad Personalization to see the profile that Google created based on your Internet habits.
It is easier to do this from a computer. Go to the Ad Settings page and slide the switch under Ads Personalization to the left to turn it off.
You’ll still get ads, of course, but they might not be as targeted.
