Google Releases New Privacy Controls for Search Services and Google Play
Google is introducing new privacy controls for Search services and Google Play, providing users with more control over their saved history and personalized recommendations. According to an email sent to users, Google is updating its settings to give users even more control over saved history and personalized recommendations across Google Search services and Google Play.
Google's Search services include Search, Maps, Shopping, Hotels, Flights, Translate, and News. Users will see the change in their Google Account over the next few days. The company will offer separate settings for saved history and personalized recommendations.
New History and Personalization Settings
Google's new media-saving option for Search services will also be turned on after the transition if the Web & App Activity feature is currently turned on. Until now, Google has allowed users to manage history and personalization for Google services through Web & App Activity. However, Google is now separating some of that into new controls called Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations.
Search Services History will control whether Google saves activity from Search services to the user's Google Account. This can include searches, Maps activity, Shopping searches, Flights and Hotels activity, Translate usage, News activity, and more. Google says this will make it easier for users to revisit previous searches and continue using newer interactive Search experiences.
Saved Media and Interactive Product Experiences
Google says saved media can include images, files, audio, and video from interactions with Search services. This can include visual searches with Google Lens or audio from voice-based interactions. According to Google, this helps support interactive product experiences. For example, this lets users revisit past visual searches with Lens or continue a Search Live conversation about a song they heard.
To support these types of interactive product experiences, Google will now save media to Search Services History, applying robust privacy and security protections. However, saved media, like Search Services History, can be used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models and safety systems.
Personalized Recommendations and Separation from Web & App Activity
Google is also introducing a separate Personalized Recommendations setting for Search services. This will allow users to control whether Google personalizes their Search services experience. Personalized Recommendations controls whether Google uses saved data to tailor what users see. That separation is helpful because some people may want their history saved for convenience but may not want Google to personalize recommendations based on it.
After the transition, Web & App Activity will be separate from Search services' history and personalization settings. Google says changes to one setting will not affect the others. Google Play is also getting separate Play History and Personalization in Play settings, which can be turned on or off at any time.
The new Search services and Google Play settings will reflect users' most recent choices for Web & App Activity and Search Personalization settings. If users previously told Google to delete activity after a certain period, that choice should carry over to the new settings. Users can still change the auto-delete period, manually review their history, or delete activity at any time.
Conclusion and Next Steps
This change is not necessarily bad, as separating Search history, Search personalization, Google Play history, and Google Play personalization gives users more direct control than one broad Web & App Activity switch. However, users should still check the settings once they appear in their Google Account, especially if Web & App Activity is currently turned on. Google says users will see the change in their Google Account over the next few days.
- Google is introducing new privacy controls for Search services and Google Play.
- Users will have separate settings for saved history and personalized recommendations.
- Search Services History will control whether Google saves activity from Search services to the user's Google Account.
- Personalized Recommendations will control whether Google uses saved data to tailor what users see.
Source: BleepingComputer