You’re not truly clearing your search historical past – this is do it correctly
We’ve all been there before. Whether you’re trying to buy a top-secret present or you’re just Googling something downright weird.
Perhaps you’ve gotten a bit too into crime and you don’t want your partner or parents to think you’re plotting their murder. Maybe you’re searching for that all-important proposal spot and just don’t want any spoilers getting out there ahead of time (or because you’ve changed your mind).
Either way, you’re in a safe space – we won’t tell – if you want a permanent solution to deleting your browser history. And, believe it or not, plenty of people think they know how to do it already but are getting it all wrong.
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Tech giant Google actually stores extensive data on your YouTube and Google search history on your account even if you delete it from your Internet browser, unless you make a key settings change.
This means there’s still a record of that time you looked up you-know-what but we won’t tell. Keep reading for instructions on how to delete your YouTube and Google search history.
(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
How to delete YouTube search history on your phone
There are a number of ways to delete your YouTube search history.
Firstly, you can delete individual search queries in the app in a few taps. Open the YouTube app, hit the Search bar, then tap and hold any suggested search results that have the History icon next to them. (This looks a bit like a clock). Then, simply tap ‘Remove’ on the resulting pop-up.
If you want to change your settings so that YouTube stops saving your search history entirely, you can also do this through the YouTube app.
Tap your profile picture, then go to Settings > Manage all history. When you see an option called Saving YouTube history, you just need to toggle off ‘Include your searches on YouTube’.
(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
How to clear Google search history on Android
The Google search app is one of the handiest features on Android, as it means any Android user can quickly get search results by simply tapping the search bar on the Home Screen.
Similarly to YouTube, you can tap and hold on specific search results to clear them from your phone history.
But to clear these completely, you’ll have to delete Search history from your Google account by following these steps:
- Open the Google app on your Android phone then tap your Profile picture and open Search history.
- To delete all your search history, tap Delete > Delete all time
- To delete searches from a specific time period, just tap Delete > Delete custom range.
You can also change your Settings so that Search history auto-deletes. Go back to the Search history menu then choose Controls. Find the ‘Web & App Activity card’ and tap Auto-delete (On). Your Google account should now be cleared of search history results.
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