Google makes it easy to view your history—including your searches, a location timeline, and even your YouTube history—from the My Activity page. If you want to see your Chrome browsing history, you can do so from your browser's "History" menu. You can also quickly pull up your search history in the Google app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad. This wikiHow teaches you how to see and manage your history for your Google account and Chrome on a computer, phone, or tablet.
How to Check Your Google History
Go to myactivity.google.com in a web browser to check your history. You can search for specific items or click "Filter by date or product" to search by date range or product. Click the "X" to delete individual searches, or "Delete activity by" to clear your history from a specific timeframe.
Steps
Viewing Your Google History
-
Go to https://myactivity.google.com in a web browser. To check your history for all Google products, including your searches, YouTube, Google Maps, and your location, you can use My Activity in a web browser on any device.
- If you are not signed in, click SIGN IN in the middle of the page to sign in now.
- Your history is tied to your Google account, not your device, so the history will be available for every device on which you use your Google account.
-
Review your Google account's history. You can start viewing your Google activity below the "Today" header.
- At the top of the page, you'll see the three types of Google activity:
- ' Web & App Activity: Includes your searches and activity for Google services and sites like Search, Maps, News, Lens, Shopping, Podcasts, Play Store, Ads, Google Translate, and Assistant. It also includes information about your device, the ads you click, and your preferences on any site using Google services. [1] X Research source
- Location History: A timeline of places you've been with your devices. [2] X Research source
- YouTube History: Includes your YouTube watch history and searches. [3] X Research source
- If you see "Off" under any of these activity types, your history is not being saved for that activity.
Advertisement - At the top of the page, you'll see the three types of Google activity:
-
Search your history. If you're looking for a specific search term, website, YouTube video, or other data, type it into the search bar labeled "Search your activity" at the top of the list.
- You can also filter your history by date or specific apps and services (i.e., Search, Images, YouTube, Assistant, etc.). Just click or tap ' Filter by date or product below the "Search Your Activity" search bar, enter a timeframe, and/or tap the checkboxes to filter by product.
- Click Details below an item in your history to learn more about it, including when the activity was logged and the device it was logged from.
-
Disabling your Google History. If you don't want Google to save your history, you can disable history for each activity type individually:
- Click the type of activity (Web & App Activity is the one that includes Google searches) at the top of My Activity.
- Click Turn off .
- Click Turn off again to disable your history, or Turn off and delete to disable and delete your history.
- Repeat for the other history types.
- If you disable your history, Google will not be able to make location recommendations or personalize your settings. [4] X Research source
Deleting Your Google History
-
Go to https://myactivity.google.com in any web browser. If you want to delete your Google searches and other history, prevent Google from saving your history (for search, location, and/or other apps), or customize other history settings, you can do so using My Activity on any device.
-
Click the X on a history item and select Delete . This quickly deletes any item from your Google history.
-
Delete your entire Google history. If you want to delete your entire Google history, or your activity from a specific time period, here's how:
- Click Delete activity by on the left (on a phone or tablet, you may need to tap ☰ to see this option).
- Select a time frame from one of the options (select All Time to delete your entire Google history).
- Click DELETE .
- Click DELETE when prompted.
-
Have your history deleted automatically. If you find it useful to check your Google history but want it to automatically delete after some time:
- Click the type of activity (Web & App Activity is the one that includes Google searches) at the top of My Activity.
- Click Choose an auto-delete option .
- Select a timeframe and click Next .
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
Checking Chrome Browsing History (Mobile)
-
Tap ⋮ or ⋯ in the Chrome app and select History . You'll find this near the middle of the menu on Android. On iPhone and iPad, it's in the list of icons at the top of the menu.
- If you don't see History here, tap New tab in the drop-down menu, then tap ⋮ again and tap History there.
-
Review your Chrome history. Once your Chrome history page loads, scroll through it to check it as needed.
-
Remove individual items from your history if you like. If you want to get rid of specific pieces of information, do the following:
- iPhone — Tap Edit in the bottom-right corner of the screen, tap items to delete, and tap Delete in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
- Android — Tap X to the right of each item you want to remove from the History page.
-
Clear your whole history if needed. If you want to clear your entire Chrome history for your smartphone or tablet, tap Clear Browsing Data , make sure that "Browsing History" has a checkmark next to it, tap Clear Browsing Data , and tap Clear Browsing Data when prompted.
Checking Chrome Browsing History (Computer)
-
Click the three-dot menu in Google Chrome ⋮ . It's in the top-right corner of the window.
-
Select History . You'll find this in the middle of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
-
Click History . It's at the top of the pop-out menu. Doing so opens the History page.
-
Review your Chrome history. Scroll through your history entries to check them as needed.
-
Clear your history if need be. While you can clear an individual item from your Chrome history by clicking ⋮ and then clicking Remove from history , you can clear all of your Chrome history at once by doing the following:
- Click Clear browsing data on the left side of the page.
- Make sure "Browsing history" is checked.
- Select a time frame to clear from the "Time range" drop-down box.
- Click CLEAR DATA at the bottom of the window.
Checking Search History in the Google App
-
Open the Google app. If you use the Google app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad, you can use it to view and manage your search history only. This will not display your activity from other products and services like YouTube, Assistant, etc.
-
Tap your profile picture and select Search history . It's in the upper-right corner of the Google app.
-
Review your Google Account's history. Scroll through the list of items to see the websites you've searched for.
- To filter your history by date, tap the calendar icon above your search history, enter a date, and tap Apply .
- To search for specific items, tap the magnifying glass above your search history, then use the search bar at the top to search for specific items. You can also tap the checkboxes to filter items by the type of search you did (i.e., books, search, image search, or video search).
-
Delete searches from the Google app. To remove a specific item from your Google history, tap the X above the item in your history and click or tap Delete . Use the following steps to delete multiple items from a specific time frame:
- Tap Delete above your search history.
- Tap Delete today , Delete custom range , or Delete all time .
- Enter a custom range and tap Next (if deleting a customer range).
- Tap Got it .
Community Q&A
-
QuestionHow can I find my Gmail password if I am logged in?Community AnswerYou would have to log out, and then click the "forgot password" link. It will send you an e-mail to the e-mail address you provided, so that you can create a new password if you need to. If you do not have an e-mail address on file, it will ask you a series of questions to verify your identity, so that you will be able to reset your password.
-
QuestionHow can I restore my history once it's been deleted?Community AnswerOnce you have deleted your history, you can not get it back, especially if it's a 'Since the Beginning of Time' deletion.
-
QuestionHow do I check all my account history and timeline for other devices for which I'm signed in?Community AnswerIf you log on to the same Google account with each of your devices, your entire history should be available in your Google history section. Use the search function for specific history items.
Video
Tips
- If your browser begins running slower than usual or won't load specific sites you know you can access on other platforms or browsers, clearing your history and cache can fix the problem.Thanks
References
- ↑ https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/54068?sjid=8247229521383707870-NC
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?hl=en
- ↑ https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/95725
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?visit_id=638531168210394716-2894271686&p=location_history&hl=en&rd=1