do you use Gmail yes do you watch videos
on YouTube yes do you search for things
on Google yes then your privacy might be
compromised
we're not anti-google we love Google
other videos that we've seen are focused
on specific phones and specific
operating systems this is not that video
this video is about how to keep using
the Google services you love while
putting the control of your data back
into your hands we're going to start by
going to my account
dot google.com this is where the master
settings for your Google account
actually live and it works across all
your devices but keep in mind that if
you have more than one Google account
you'll have to go into each account
individually and change these settings
we're going to start by tapping on the
data in privacy tab scrolling down and
tapping web and app activity this saves
your activity on Google sites and apps
including Associated info like location
to give you faster searches better
recommendations and more personalized
experiences in Maps search and other
Google services it sounds benign but you
really need to read the fine print or in
this case the learn more page or at the
dictionary to find out what the
definition of benign is webin app
activity saves things like your location
your IP address which browser or app
you're using and what website you just
came from It also says information like
the ads you click on or the things you
buy on a website you can also save
information from your device like the
contact names you've recently searched
for and all of this information can be
collected even when you're not online on
your phone scroll down I like to turn
this off completely if we scroll down we
can tap pause Google thinks you're
coming back you're not why do they want
you to leave this on it's how Google
makes most of their money by selling
this data to advertisers if you want to
leave web and app activity on WE highly
recommend turning off include voice and
audio activity audio activity saves
audio recordings every time you interact
with Google search Google assistant and
Google Maps it is a little sketchy I
think Google realizes that it is off by
default so well done to them leave it
off you can also set a schedule to
delete your webinar activity after
either three months or 18 months or 36
months idop for the three month option
so on your phone Auto delete tap on that
and then Auto delete activity older than
three months then tap next next let's
talk about Google location history this
shares where you go with your devices
even if you're not using a specific
Google service Google collects this
information to give you more personal
lies maps and make recommendations based
on the places you've been let's tap back
upper left hand corner of the screen
scroll down and tap on Location History
if this has been on you'll see a long
list of places you've been with your
phone recently kind of weird kind of
sketchy if someone gets a hold of your
device they'll be able to see everywhere
you've been and where you go most often
and this is another setting where it's
important to read the fine print because
Google doesn't even guarantee benefits
they say when you turn on Location
History you may see a number of benefits
and once again all of this benefit talk
and personalized recommendation talk is
just them saying we're going to sell ads
that are more targeted to you
specifically to turn off Google location
history tap turn off scroll down and
again we are pausing this feature I
personally use Google Maps because I've
had a lot of bad experiences with Apple
Maps I don't use Google location history
it works fine I don't need those
recommendations same deal with the auto
delete schedule if you want to leave it
on we recommend three months because
after all the same places you went three
years ago might not be where you're
going today next up YouTube history
which saves the YouTube videos you watch
and the things you search for on YouTube
to give you better recommendations
remember where you left off and more now
maybe we're biased because we're
YouTubers but I don't really see this as
a major privacy issue unless you're
sharing your YouTube account with
somebody else you don't want them to see
what you're looking at on YouTube but a
lot of times people are logged in with
their YouTube account on a TV for
instance I was over at a friend's house
recently and started looking through
their history without without really
having any negative intentions but they
shut that down real fast let's tap back
upper left hand corner of the screen
scroll down and tap on YouTube history
scroll down and if you want to turn off
your YouTube history just tap that turn
off button scroll down and tap pause one
thing I like about turning this off is
that I see unbiased results in Google
search and in YouTube search because I
don't need to see the same things I've
already watched I want to see the best
results according to what YouTube thinks
we'd love to be a bigger part of your
YouTube search history and you can help
us out tremendously by clicking that
subscribe button below this video next
we'll talk about personalized ads why do
all these settings sound like exactly
the same thing it's because they're all
geared towards collecting data about you
to serve you better ads and make Google
more money let's tap back upper left
hand corner of the screen scroll down
and tap on my ad Center and then tap on
the personalize ads button and then tap
turn off tap got it and you're set when
you turn this off it will also turn off
personalized ads for YouTube partners
which is basically every website you
visit and I can see the comments now
won't I see low quality ads no you won't
Google can still deliver you contextual
ads based on the website you're visiting
also Google doesn't let low quality ads
into their Network when you see low
quality ads on a website it's not
Google's fault it's that website buying
ads from low quality advertisers that
are not Google so
just stay away from those websites next
we're going to talk about personal
results and search let's tap back to the
previous page
scroll down
and tap on personal results in search if
you share your computer with your family
or friends do you really want them to
know everything you've been searching
for if it's your personal computer I
don't really think personalized search
results is that big of a privacy issue I
do I don't like it yeah the issue would
be if someone is looking over your
shoulder or they stole your device then
they'd see your whole search history
anyway so maybe it is a big privacy
issue and if it's a shared computer I
think there's more of a risk here than
just other people seeing your search
history you may have heard the story
about how Target figured out a teenage
girl was pregnant before her own father
did and the consequences were severe all
she had done was search for a specific
product on Target's website that had to
do with pregnancy her dad saw it and
that was not a good situation Google
could start making recommendations based
on your search history and those
recommendations might not be things you
want other people to see let's turn off
the switch that's to show personal
results on our phone it can also be
annoying I was recently searching for a
new home and I just went on Zillow and
looked at Manhattan apartments that cost
60 million dollars which is a little out
of my price range and now I'm getting
all these recommendations for 60 million
Apartments which I do not want next
we're going to talk about Google Fit
privacy these are really only relevant
if you have a Google Fit device we'll
just touch on them quickly let's tap
back upper left hand corner of the
screen scroll down
and tap on manage Google Fit privacy I
completely understand that a lot of
people wouldn't want their health and
medical information stored in their
Google account right at the top of the
screen your fit data if you tap on
manage fit data you can see the data
your Google Fit device has collected
about you and here's where you can
delete that data from your Google
account we're not saying that Google
isn't secure they have the best of
intentions but with the amount of
companies we've seen get hacked lately
there's cause for concern let's tap back
lower left hand corner of the screen
scroll down and tap manage your
assistant this is where you can choose
what fit data is shared with Google
Assistant theoretically it could be
helpful if you're using your Google Fit
ecosystem to help improve your sleep
let's tap back lower left hand corner of
the screen and talk about another sleep
feature by tapping manage
personalization options sleep
suggestions you'll get personal
suggestions for a better night's sleep
if you turn on sleep suggestions again
if you don't want your Google ecosystem
to be you know keeping an eye on all of
your sleeping turn this off and let's
tap back lower left hand corner of the
screen scroll down to fit data
permissions and tap manage permissions
do you want Google to have access to
your vitals data or your menstrual cycle
data that sounds a little scary no
thanks these settings ultimately come
down to how much you want the Google
ecosystem to help you with your health
and fitness if you're someone who's not
that concerned about you can just come
in here and turn all this stuff off as
much as this is designed to be helpful
at this point our medical providers
aren't exactly using this data to help
us so it's it's really up to you next
we're going to talk about how the
information stored in your Google
account is shared with other people
let's tap back lower left hand corner of
the screen back again to our data and
privacy page scroll down
two
info you can share with others and tap
on your profile here's where you can
pick and choose what information you
want other people to see when you use
Google services for instance if you use
Gmail you might want other people to be
able to see your profile picture but you
might not want them to know your
birthday and if you scroll further down
this page you probably don't want them
to have access to your address either
and bear in mind that spammers will use
this feature to get your attention by
making their picture beautiful women or
men to change who can see your profile
information or to remove some of that
information let's scroll down I'll tap
on address for instance I can select
only you or anyone or I can just remove
my address entirely and not have that
stored in my Google account at all I
think it's another privacy issue if you
share things like your birthday and your
dress with people because a lot of
password reset prompts will ask you
first for your birthday let's head back
to the data and privacy tab scroll down
and one below profile is location
sharing tap on that make sure you aren't
sharing your location with anyone that
doesn't need it if you see someone in
this list you want your moves tap the
stop button next to their name and
you're done let's tap back upper left
hand corner of the screen and we're
going to scroll down to third-party apps
with account access tap on that these
are apps that you've allowed access to
at least some of your data let's tap on
each one and find out if there's any
data we don't want to be sharing with
them right now I have Comedy Central
PlayStation Network and slash a Comedy
Central for example I wanted to watch a
South Park episode on my computer I had
to log in with my YouTube TV account to
watch it because they need to verify
that I actually pay for cable if I tap
on Comedy Central I could remove access
so maybe I cancel my YouTube TV
subscription I don't want Comedy Central
to keep having access to my Google
account we can tap remove access and
then tap OK you can always just give it
access again if you ever need to use
Comedy Central again in the future next
we're going to scroll down to this
signing in with Google section Google
has made it really easy to log into new
accounts using your existing Google
account I do like that feature but these
apps can view your name your email
address your profile picture and some
times even more look through this list
and see if there's an account you no
longer use so doodle I don't remember
the last time I used doodle if I tap on
that I can tap remove access and tap OK
it's a good idea every now and then to
come in here or move accounts that don't
need access to your Google account and
this doesn't delete your account on
Doodle's website if you go back to
Doodle you can just reauthorize with
your Google account let's tap back upper
left hand corner of the screen this next
tip is more of a convenience tip for you
but if we scroll down to
emails from Google services tap on
manage email preferences none of us like
marketing emails or spam from companies
like Google they just clutter up your
inbox like other big tech companies
Google just opts you in a lot of the
time to receive these emails when you
sign up looking through our list for
example new device welcome emails this
is one we actually recommend leaving on
leaving this on could theoretically tip
you off if your Google account is logged
into a brand new device but things like
Maps insights and promotional emails
from Google photos I don't need those
I'll turn off those switches and if you
aren't sure about a setting you see on
your phone leave us a comment below and
we'll be sure to help you out but most
of the time the answer is going to be to
turn it off let's tap back upper left
hand corner of the screen to the data
and privacy tab scroll down
until you see
delete a Google service tap on that
you'll be prompted to enter your
password look through your list of
services and delete the ones you no
longer need for example I didn't even
know I had a blogger account so I'm just
going to tap that trash can and delete
that blogger data and then I'll tap
delete blogger profile to check off this
box because I totally read the terms and
conditions there and you're all set
that's it for the data and privacy tab
but we're not done yet because there are
several Security Options you need to
turn on to keep your account secure but
before we talk about those we want to
talk about our members program you click
that join button down below you'll get
access to a whole lot of great things
like shout outs custom badges and emojis
and PDFs for some of our big settings
videos like this one we are going to
make a PDF for your Google privacy
settings video so click that join button
right away and you'll have that guide so
you can follow along let's tap back
upper left hand corner of the screen
we're heading to the security tab the
first thing to take a look at here is
two-step verification it is 2023 you
need to turn on two-step verification
remember earlier we were talking about
signing into other Google services well
if this isn't turned on and someone gets
your password they have access not just
to your Google account but all those
other services too if two-step
verification is off on your phone tap on
it and then follow the on-screen prompts
these days there are a lot of things you
can do there's SMS there's authenticator
apps and there's security Keys we made
an entire video about security keys that
work on both iPhones and Android phones
there's a link to that in the
description below and a card above also
keep in mind that since Elon Musk
changed the two-step verification rules
for Twitter a lot of fake authenticator
apps have hit the App Store markets
stick to Google Authenticator or authy
and we'll stick links to those in the
description section too the next thing
to be aware of in the security tab in
your Google account is enhanced safe
browsing enhanced safe browsing helps
protect you from malicious downloads
websites and extensions if you share
your device with somebody else like a
child or somebody who might be prone to
scams maybe they're very gullible it's a
good idea to turn this on but sometimes
these enhanced security features can be
a bit Overkill and they'll end up
blocking downloads or websites that you
actually need or want the toggle
enhanced safe browsing on or off just
tap on manage enhanced safe browsing and
toggle this switch on or off depending
on what you want to do next we're going
to tap back scroll up and tap on the
people and sharing tab a lot of these
settings here and people in Sharing have
already touched on them but there's one
really important one you need to know
about and that is share recommendations
in ads on your device scroll down until
you see share recommendations in ads
we're going to tap on manage shared
endorsements do you want Google to use
your profile name your photo and your
activity as endorsements and
advertisements I would if I was getting
a cut but I'm not theoretically this
could be used to track you maybe you
show up in an ad for a coffee shop and
then somebody says oh David really likes
this coffee shop I'm just gonna go hang
out there until I see him I that's a big
problem for me I can't I can't can't go
anywhere can't go anywhere recognized
the paparazzi are all over me or maybe
you're an employee of another coffee
shop but you hate the coffee there what
are they gonna think maybe you're
applying for jobs yeah on this shared
endorsements page scroll down and
uncheck the Box
and you're all set well we wouldn't
recommend sharing your recommendations
in Google ads we would really appreciate
it if you could just share this video
with your friends and then Facebook or
other social media just click that share
button below this video and once you've
done that check out one of these next
two videos to learn if your iPhone or
Android is being tracked