Google's tracking defaults are worse than you think—disable these 4 settings today

Published Sep 29, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Vishwamoorthy's interest in tech started early, as a school student, watching Pixel 2 XL camera review videos and being awestruck by what a phone camera with excellent software could do. That curiosity stuck with him: since 2022, he's published over 1,500 articles covering smartphones, Android, and consumer tech news at FoneArena, one of India's leading tech publications. Lately, he's obsessed with how AI is reshaping the business world, the deals, the products, the quiet feature rollouts nobody notices until they're everywhere. Reading and writing about tech is what keeps him going; doomscrolling is what keeps him honest. Your Google account is one of the most important keys to your digital life. It can hold a significant amount of information about what you search for, places you visit, your personal information, contacts, and more. Yet, people often overlook these Google account settings when it comes to maintaining their account privacy. As a result, you may leave some default settings enabled, allowing Google to save your activity and use it to personalize your experience, recommendations, and ads. I went through all the settings in my Google Account and found these four that are worth reviewing: Ad Personalization, Search Services History, Maps Timeline, and Web & App Activity. After disabling these settings, I felt like I had reclaimed some control over my privacy without giving up much of my day-to-day experience with Google services. Pausing Web & App Activity Stop Google from tracking your cross-device Chrome and Android habits Think of Web & App Activity as a master tracker that's enabled by default on your Google account. It saves your activities across Google Search, Google Assistant commands, browser activities (if you're using Chrome connected with your Google account), and your general app usage to give you a personalized experience across Google products. Although Google says this data helps improve your experience, such as predicting search queries as you type and providing better recommendations based on previous searches, you ultimately hand over a big chunk of your activity data to Google, which can be used to serve targeted ads and even train its underlying systems. If you wish to opt out of it, you can instantly turn off Web & App Activity by visiting myactivity.google.com, signing in to your Google account, and opening the Web & App Activity controls under My Google Activity. Disabling the Web & App Activity setting only stops new activity from being recorded, but it doesn't delete your past activities that are recorded. If you wish to clear your historical data, you'll need to choose "Turn off and delete activity" when disabling it. Disabling Search Services History and Recommendations Stop Google from training its AI on your queries and skewing your search results Due to recent regulatory scrutiny (particularly the EU’s Digital Markets Act) and the introduction of AI services across its core products, Google has been actively revamping its data collection and usage methods. One major change is separating data collection from personalization across seven core Google products: Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News. While this data was previously held under Web & App Activity, Google is rolling out a dedicated Search Services History setting. Leaving this setting enabled does more than just log your history by creating an algorithmic filter bubble that curates your search results, news feeds, and personalized AI overviews. And more importantly, Google explicitly uses your search prompts, flight research, translations, and uploaded media to train and refine its generative AI models, as described on their support page: Google also uses your history to provide, develop, and improve its services (such as training generative AI models) and to protect Google, its users, and the public with the help of human reviewers. Similar to disabling Web & App Activity, you can visit myactivity.google.com to turn off your Search Services History, configure auto-delete options, and delete activity logs older than three months. Cutting off your search history alone is not enough to stop Google from using your data to build an algorithmic feed. You'll also need to disable Search Service Personalization, a related setting you can find under Search Services History settings. Helps reduce the number of targeted ads you see Google uses your demographic data and search activity to build lucrative advertising profiles. Google uses this to serve targeted ads, which might sometimes feel embarrassing and personal. So, on every Google Account I use, the first setting I will turn off is this Ad Personalization. Google has a dedicated My Ad Center that serves as your dashboard for controlling personalized ads. This dashboard lets you turn on/off ad personalization, rediscover ads you've seen recently, and customize them. To access this dashboard view and disable ad personalization, you'll need to visit myadcenter.google.com. Do note that disabling ad personalization doesn't mean you'll see fewer ads. The number of ads you see largely remains unchanged, while ads might feel random and less personalized. Disable Timeline and background location tracking Stop Google Maps from cataloging every physical step you take Credit: ultramansk/Shutterstock When enabled, Timeline continuously tracks your device's precise location, routes, and places you visit, keeping a log locally on a mobile device where you have a Google account signed in. This can happen even when you don't have Google Maps or any other Google app actively running on your screen. While Timeline powers convenient features such as your personal travel history and Android Auto's automatic parking spot memory, it also creates an intimate log of your physical whereabouts. While Timeline is technically an opt-in feature, it's highly likely that you may have enabled it due to Google Maps' continuous prompts when you visit the "Your Timeline" section. You can visit myactivity.google.com to turn off your Timeline tracking, delete your past data, or configure the auto-delete option if you wish to keep it enabled. Switching off Timeline only disables the continuous, background movement log. If you leave Search Services History or Web & App Activity enabled, Google still records your general location and IP address whenever you run a local search, check local weather, or snap geotagged photos. Take control of your digital footprint Our digital identity also requires cautious protection, especially when everything is tied to one single Google account. When left at their default settings, these background switches feed Google's ad network, fuel the training of Gen AI models, and quietly log your physical and digital movements. Becoming aware of these tracking and settings is paramount when it comes to taking control of your digital footprint.