In May this year, Google announced incognito mode for Google Maps and Google Search app. The update is finally being rolled out, which means users can now keep their search data and activity private.
The feature can be accessed via the Google Android app by going to the ‘My Activity’ window from the profile options. This tab lets you turn off saving your search activity and enable auto-deletion of the data.
Once the incognito mode is turned on, users will be notified via text on a black ribbon at the top of the app interface.
Apart from rolling out the incognito mode, Google has also added other privacy controls.
Auto-delete for YouTube
This feature will allow users to activate the auto-deletion of app activity, location, and history data. You can select a certain time period ranging from 3 months to 18 months, after which the application will clear out all the data automatically. The feature is available in the My Activity section of the application.
Google Assistant Data Deletion
The new privacy controls also allow the users to delete voice command data directly from the Google Assistant. For now, users can only delete one week’s voice commands from the app. If they wish to delete a larger chunk of data, it can only be done manually via the browser.
If Google cared about privacy, it would not require you to log in with a Google account to do useful things with maps and instead would simply save information on your device.
Home and work, recent searches, favourites, etc.