Here's where you can find answers to some of the top questions we get asked about privacy, like What is data? Also have a look at the Privacy Policy if you want to learn more.
Your location Does Google know my location?Whenever you use the internet, apps and sites can estimate roughly where you are, and the same is true for Google. Google may also know your precise location, depending on your device settings. (See How precise is my location?)
When you search on Google, like with Search, Maps, or Google Assistant, your current location may be used to give you more helpful results. For example, if you search for restaurants, the most helpful results are probably for restaurants near where you are.
See How you can manage your location
How can I turn location on and off?When you search on Google, Google will always estimate the general area that youâre searching from. Google, like any app or website you use that connects to the Internet, can estimate your location based on your deviceâs IP address. For more, see How does Google know where I am?
To choose whether to send your precise location when you use Google, you can turn location permissions on or off for individual apps, sites, and for your device.
If you set your home or work addresses, and Google estimates that youâre at home or work, then the exact address will be used for your search.
How precise is my location? Your general areaWhen you search on Google, Google will always estimate the general area that youâre searching from. This way Google can give you relevant results, and keep your account safe by detecting unusual activity, such as signing in from a new city.
A general area is larger than 3 sq km and has at least 1,000 users so that the general area of your search doesnât identify you, helping to protect your privacy.
Your precise locationIf you give your permission, Google can use your precise location. For example, Google needs your precise location to return the most relevant results for searches like âice cream near meâ or turn-by-turn walking directions to a store.
Precise location means exactly where you are, such as a particular address.
How does Google know my location?Your location comes from different sources, which are used together to estimate where you are.
IP addresses are roughly based on geography, similar to phone number area codes. This means that any app or website you use, including google.com, can estimate the general area youâre in because of your IP address. Your deviceâs IP address is assigned to your device by your Internet Service Provider, and is required to use the internet.
If you give a Google app or site permission to use your deviceâs location, that information can be used to help understand where you are. Nearly all devices have a location setting built into the operating system, usually in settings.
Google can estimate the general area youâre in based on your previous Google searches. For example, if you often search for pizza in Mumbai, itâs likely that you want to see results in Mumbai.
If you set your home or work address, Google can use them to estimate where you are. For example, if you set your home address, and your IP address, previous activity, or other sources of location information suggest that you may be near your home, then we will use your home location as an estimate of where you are.
Who can see my location?Itâs up to you. If you use Google Location Sharing, you can share your real-time location with friends and family across Google services.
Check if youâre sharing your location
Location Sharing is off by default. If you want to share your real-time location, you need to choose and confirm who you want to share with and for how long. You can stop sharing your location at any time.
See Sharing your real-time location with others
When you use Google services, we collect information we need in order to provide them to you, make them more useful to you, and for other reasons as explained in Why does Google collect data?.
With your settings, you can limit the data we collect and how that data is used. For example, if you donât want us to save your YouTube History to your Google Account, you can turn YouTube History off. See How can I decide what Google saves?
Your personal information includes things you provide to us which personally identify you, such as your name or email address. It also includes other data that can be reasonably linked to you by Google, such as information we associate with you in your Google Account.
Your personal information includes two types of things:
When you create a Google Account, you provide us with personal information like your name and a password.
You can also save content you create, upload, or receive from others, like email messages, and photos.
We collect information about your activity in our services, which can include things like the terms you search for and the videos you watch, people with whom you communicate or share content, and your Chrome browsing history to deliver a better experience.
We collect information about the apps, browsers, and devices you use to access Google services, which helps us provide features like dimming your screen if your battery runs low.
We process your location, such as when youâre using features like turn-by-turn directions. For more, see the Location section.
Why does Google collect data?We collect information we need in order to provide our services, make them more useful to you, and for other reasons as explained in Ways we use data.
For example, Google Maps can help you get to where youâre going while avoiding traffic because it combines information about where you are (your data) with public data (maps and information about public places).
Provide our servicesWe use data to provide our services, like processing the terms you search for in order to return results.
Maintain & improve our servicesData helps us maintain and improve our services. For example, we can track outages. And understanding which search terms are most frequently misspelled helps us improve spell-check features used across our services.
Develop new servicesData helps us develop new services. For example, we were able to understand how people organized their photos in our first photos app, Picasa, and used that data to help design and launch Google Photos. And we may use your interactions with our services, including our generative AI products, to develop and improve these services.
Provide personalized services, including content and adsWe use data to provide personalized content, for example, recommendations for videos you may like. Depending on your settings and how old you are, we may show you personalized ads based on your interests.
Measure performanceWe also use data to measure performance and understand how our services are used
Communicate with youWe might use your email address to send you a notification if we detect suspicious activity
Protect Google, our users, and the publicWe use data to keep people safer online, like detecting and preventing fraud
âPersonalizationâ is about using the information we collect to tailor our apps and sites to you, for example:
We also use data to personalize ads except in cases like when the setting is off or for certain ages.
Does Google personalize the ads I see?We try to make the ads we show as useful as possible. But we donât personalize ads for certain ages or for people who turn Ad personalization off.
We can still make ads useful even without personalizing them. For example, if youâre looking at a page of results for ânew shoes,â you might see an ad from a sneaker company. The ad can be based on general factors like the time of day, your general location, and content of the page youâre looking at.
Youâre in control How can I decide what Google saves to my account?As you use a Google service, like Photos, there are settings that let you decide things like whether you want to back up and sync your photos.
There are also settings that help personalize your experience across Google services. Two key ones are Web & App Activity and YouTube History.
When these controls are on:
Saves your activity on Google sites and apps, like Search and Maps, and includes associated info like location. It also saves synced Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services.
Your activity is used to give you faster searches, better recommendations, and more personalized experiences in Maps, Search, and other Google services.
Saves the videos you watch and the things you search for when you use YouTube.
Your YouTube History is used to personalize your YouTube experience and other apps, like your search results.
How do I delete My Activity data?You can delete data saved in your Google Account. Data you choose to permanently delete gets removed from our systems. We follow a careful process to make sure this data is completely removed from our servers or kept only in a form that canât be associated with you.
Visit My Activity to review the activity saved in your Google Account, such as prompts youâve entered, and things youâve searched for, read, and watched. You can delete specific pieces of activity or all your activity within a specific time range.
You can also choose to have your activity deleted automatically.
Your content includes things like emails, photos, videos, docs, sheets, comments, contacts, and calendar events.
Visit Download your data to create an archive of your content â either to back it up or to take it to another company if you want to try a different service.
What controls do I have when Iâm signed out?You have controls that let you choose how to use Google, even when youâre signed out. When youâre signed out, visit g.co/privacytools to change these settings:
Search customizationUses your Google searches from this browser for more relevant results and recommendations.
YouTube Search and Watch HistoryUses your activity on YouTube, like videos you watch and things you search for, to personalize YouTube for you.
You can also block some or all cookies in your browser, but this can cause certain features across the web to stop working. For example, many websites require cookies to be turned on when you want to sign in.
Signed-out users can also choose whether they want to see personalized ads, though we donât personalize ads for certain ages.
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