What Google Knows About You: A Guide to Your Google Activity Dashboard
By Siddharth Shankar · September 2, 2026TL;DR: Google's My Activity dashboard is one of the most concrete windows into your own digital footprint — search history, location timeline, YouTube watch history, and app activity, often going back years. Here's how to actually navigate it and what's worth changing.
Of all the "what does this company know about me" questions, Google's is unusually answerable — because Google actually gives you a dashboard for it. Most people have never opened it, and the amount of detail tends to surprise people the first time they do.
What's actually inside My Activity
- Search history — every search made while signed in, often stretching back years unless auto-delete has been set up.
- Location history / Timeline — if enabled at any point, this can show a detailed record of places visited, sometimes with enough granularity to reconstruct daily routines.
- YouTube watch and search history — which, combined with search history, tends to reveal quite specific interests and habits.
- App and web activity — data from other Google services and, in some cases, partner apps that share activity back to your Google account.
Where to find it
Go to myactivity.google.com while signed into your Google account. From there, you can browse activity chronologically, search within it, and — importantly — set up auto-delete rules so future activity doesn't accumulate indefinitely.
Want to check as you read? See what's visible about you.
What's worth actually changing
- Set auto-delete. Google allows automatic deletion of activity after 3, 18, or 36 months, which is a reasonable middle ground between full retention and manually deleting everything.
- Turn off Location History if you don't specifically need it, since it's one of the more sensitive categories collected.
- Review connected third-party apps under your Google Account's security settings — many apps request more access than they actually use, similar to the pattern covered in what makes up your digital footprint.
Why this is worth doing even if you're not worried about Google itself
This dashboard is also a useful proxy for understanding your broader digital footprint — if this much detail is retrievable from a single account you use daily, it's a reasonable prompt to think about what other services are quietly building similar profiles without giving you an equivalent dashboard to check. For the sources that don't give you that visibility — old breaches, data brokers, public records tied to your phone number and email — a Scan My Shadow report fills that gap.
Before going further, see where you stand: Use the free digital footprint checker.
When you're ready, see your own results: Check your digital footprint free.
Sources
Related Reading
- Google Dorking Basics
- Meta and Googles "Download Your Data"
- Is Your WhatsApp Number Showing Up on Google?
- Microsoft Privacy Dashboard: See and Delete Your Data
- YouTube Privacy Settings: Subscriptions, History and Ads
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I find my Google activity history?
Go to myactivity.google.com while signed into your Google account — it shows search history, location timeline, YouTube activity, and more in one place.
Can I set Google to automatically delete old activity?
Yes, Google allows auto-delete rules for activity data after 3, 18, or 36 months, configurable from the same activity settings.
Does turning off Location History delete past location data?
Turning it off stops new collection; deleting existing Timeline data is a separate step within the same settings area.
Do third-party apps have access to my Google activity?
Some do, if you've granted permission — it's worth reviewing connected apps under your Google Account's security settings periodically.
Is checking my Google activity the same as checking my overall digital footprint?
No — it only covers what Google itself has collected. Breach data, data broker listings, and other public sources tied to your phone number and email are separate and worth checking independently.
What is Google's Results about you tool?
Results about you is a Google tool that lets you request removal of search results that show your personal contact details, such as your phone number, home address or email address, and it can alert you when new results with those details appear. It only removes the result from Google Search. The information can still exist on the original website, so you would need to ask that site to take it down as well. Availability and features can vary by country, so check your Google Account for the option.
Curious what's already out there about you? Scan My Shadow checks your phone number and email across 1,500+ sources and sends you a clear report — no guesswork, just facts. Start your scan.
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