Google - Policy Change

--- old
+++ new
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 Privacy Checkup
 Looking to change your privacy settings?
 Take the Privacy Checkup
-Effective April 2, 2026
+Effective May 26, 2026
 |
 Archived versions
 |
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 Products that are integrated into third-party apps and sites, like ads, analytics, and embedded Google Maps
 You can use our services in a variety of ways to manage your privacy. For example, you can sign up for a Google Account if you want to create and manage content like emails and photos, or see more relevant search results. And you can use many Google services when you’re signed out or without creating an account at all, like searching on Google or watching YouTube videos. You can also choose to browse the web in a private mode, like
 Chrome Incognito
-mode, which helps keep your browsing private from other people who use your device. And across our services, you can adjust your privacy settings to control whether we collect some types of data and how we use it.
+mode, which helps keep your browsing private from other people who use your device. And across our services, you can adjust your privacy settings (like history and personalization controls) to make choices about whether we save some types of data to your Google account and how we use it.
 To help explain things as clearly as possible, we’ve added examples, explanatory videos, and definitions for
 key terms
 . And if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 ,
 the people who matter most to you online
 , or which YouTube videos you might like. The information Google collects, and how that information is used, depends on how you use our services and how you manage your privacy controls.
-When you’re not signed in to a Google Account, we store the information we collect with
+Google also collects and uses data that is not associated with your account. For example, when you’re not signed in to a Google Account, we store the information we collect with
 unique identifiers
 tied to the browser, application, or
 device
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
 Terms you search for
 Videos you watch
 Views and interactions with content and ads
-Voice and audio information
+Media (like images, files, audio and video) from your interactions
 Purchase activity
 People with whom you communicate or share content
 Activity on third-party sites and apps that use our services
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 If you use our
 services to make and receive calls or send and receive messages
 , we may collect call and message log information like your phone number, calling-party number, receiving-party number, forwarding numbers, sender and recipient email address, time and date of calls and messages, duration of calls, routing information, and types and volumes of calls and messages.
-You can visit your Google Account to find and manage activity information that’s saved by your activity controls.
+You can visit your Google Account to find and manage activity information that’s saved in your history.
 Go to Google Account
 Your location information
 We collect location information when you use our services, which helps us offer features like driving directions, search results for things near you, and ads based on your location.
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
 turn your Android device’s location on or off
 using the device’s settings app. You can also turn on
 Timeline
-if you want to create a private map of where you go with your signed-in devices. And if your Web & App Activity setting is enabled, your searches and other activity from Google services, which may also include location information, is saved to your Google Account. Learn more about
+if you want to create a private map of where you go with your signed-in devices. Depending on your settings, your searches and other activity from Google services, which may also include location information, are saved as history to your Google Account. For example, activity from services like Search, Maps, and Shopping is saved to Search Services History, and your activity on some other Google sites and apps is saved to Web & App Activity. Learn more about
 how we use location information
 .
 In some circumstances, Google also collects information about you from
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@
 Develop new services
 We use the information we collect in existing services to help us develop new ones. For example, understanding how people organized their photos in Picasa, Google’s first photos app, helped us design and launch Google Photos.
 Provide personalized services, including content and ads
-We use the information we collect to customize our services for you, including providing recommendations, personalized content, and
-customized search results
+We use the information we collect to tailor our services for you, including providing customized and personalized experiences and recommendations, including things like content, and
+search results
 . For example,
 Security Checkup
 provides security tips adapted to how you use Google products. And, depending on your available settings, Google Play could use information like apps you’ve already installed and videos you’ve watched on YouTube to suggest new apps you might like.
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@
 of our services. This includes detecting, preventing, and responding to fraud, abuse, security risks, and technical issues that could harm Google, our users, or
 the public
 .
-We use different technologies to process your information for these purposes. We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with things like customized search results, personalized ads, or other features tailored to how you use our services. And we analyze your content to help us
+We use different technologies to process your information for these purposes. We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with things like tailored search results, personalized ads, or other features tailored to how you use our services. And we analyze your content to help us
 detect abuse
 such as spam, malware, and illegal content. We also use
 algorithms
@@ -199,11 +199,14 @@
 Google Account
 includes:
 Privacy controls
-Activity Controls
-Decide what types of activity you’d like saved in your account. For example, if you have YouTube History turned on, the videos you watch and the things you search for are saved in your account so you can get better recommendations and remember where you left off. And if you have Web & App Activity turned on, your searches and activity from other Google services are saved in your account so you can get more personalized experiences like faster searches and more helpful app and content recommendations. Web & App Activity also has a subsetting that lets you control whether some
+Personalization and Activity Controls
+Across many of our services, you can adjust history and personalization controls to make choices about whether we save some types of data in your Google Account and how we use it to personalize your experience. For example, if you have YouTube History turned on, the videos you watch and the things you search for are saved in your account so you can get better recommendations and remember where you left off. Saving activity from services like Search, Maps, and Shopping to your Search Services History lets you do things like resume an AI Mode interaction where you left off or see past searches as Autocomplete suggestions. When Personalized Recommendations in Search services is on, these services can provide results, curated feeds, and AI responses that are personalized to you based on info in your Google Account, including Search Services History. And if you have Web & App Activity turned on, your activity from some other Google services are saved in your account so you can get more personalized experiences. Web & App Activity also has a subsetting that lets you control whether some
 information about your activity on other sites, apps, and devices that use Google services
-, such as apps you install and use on Android, is saved in your Google Account and used to improve Google services.
-Go to Activity Controls
+is saved with Web & App Activity in your Google Account and used to improve Google services.
+Go to
+My Activity
+and
+Personalization Settings
 Ad settings
 Manage your preferences about the ads shown to you on Google and on sites and apps that
 partner with Google
@@ -229,9 +232,8 @@
 Manage your contact information, such as your name, email, and phone number.
 Go to Personal Info
 When you’re signed out, you can manage information associated with your browser or device, including:
-Signed-out search personalization:
-Choose
-whether your search activity is used to offer you more relevant results and recommendations.
+Signed-out search customization
+: Choose whether your search activity is used to offer you more relevant results and recommendations.
 YouTube settings: Pause and delete your
 YouTube Search History
 and your
@@ -445,9 +447,8 @@
 Google’s use of location information
 .
 Audio, electronic, visual, and similar information
-, such as
-voice and audio information
-.
+, including
+media (like images, files, audio and video) from your interactions
 Communications data
 , such as emails, if you
 use our services to send and receive messages
@@ -615,9 +616,11 @@
 in your device’s settings. Unique identifiers may also be incorporated into a device by its manufacturer (sometimes called a universally unique ID or UUID), such as the IMEI-number of a mobile phone. For example, a device’s unique identifier can be used to customize our service to your device or analyze device issues related to our services.
 Additional Context
 Activity on Google Services
-If you’re signed in to your Google Account and have Web & App Activity turned on, your activity data on Google sites, apps, and services may be saved in your account’s Web & App Activity. Some activity may include information about the general area you were in when using the Google service. When you search for something using a general area, your search will use an area of at least 3 sq km, or expand until the area represents the locations of at least 1,000 people. This helps protect your privacy.
-In some cases, areas that you have searched from in the past may be used to estimate a relevant location for your search. For example, if you search for coffee shops while in Chelsea, Google might show results for Chelsea in future searches.
-You can view and control your Web & App Activity at
+For example, if you’re signed in to your Google Account and have Search Services History or Web & App Activity turned on, your activity data on Google sites, apps, and services that use those settings may be saved as history in your Google Account. Some activity may include information about the general area you were in when using the Google service. When you search for something using a general area, your search will use an area of at least 3 sq km, or expand until the area represents the locations of at least 1,000 people. This helps protect your privacy.
+In some cases, depending on your
+personalization settings
+like Personalized Recommendations in Search services, areas that you have searched from in the past may be used to estimate a relevant location for your search. For example, if you search for coffee shops while in Chelsea, Google might show results for Chelsea in future searches.
+You can view and control your Search Services History and Web & App Activity at
 My Activity
 .
 activity on third-party sites and apps that use our services
@@ -637,14 +640,6 @@
 Android device with Google apps
 Android devices with Google apps include devices sold by Google or one of our partners and include phones, cameras, vehicles, wearables, and televisions. These devices use Google Play Services and other pre-installed apps that include services like Gmail, Maps, your phone’s camera and phone dialer, text-to-speech conversion, keyboard input, and security features. Learn more about
 Google Play Services
-.
-customized search results
-For example, when you’re signed in to your Google Account and have the Web & App Activity control enabled, you can get more relevant search results that are based on your previous searches and activity from other Google services. You can
-learn more here
-. You may also get customized search results even when you’re signed out. If you don’t want this level of search customization, you can
-search and browse privately
-or turn off
-signed-out search personalization
 .
 deliver our services
 Examples of how we use your information to deliver our services include:
@@ -676,6 +671,8 @@
 may link information
 For example, a customer may want to use its Google Analytics data to create more relevant ads, or to further analyze its traffic. Using our systems, data generated through Google Analytics can be linked by the Google Analytics customer and by Google to cookies and other technologies that are related to visits to other websites and apps.
 Learn more
+Media (like images, files, audio and video) from your interactions
+For example, you can interact with many Google services using your device’s microphone or camera, or by uploading multimedia like files, images, screenshots, audio, and video. When your device detects an audio activation command, like “Hey Google,” Google records your voice and audio plus a few seconds before the activation.
 our users
 For example, to prevent abuse and increase transparency and accountability over our online content moderation practices, Google shares data about requests for removal of content from our services with Lumen, which collects and analyzes these requests to facilitate research to help Internet users understand their rights.
 Learn more
@@ -712,6 +709,14 @@
 Collecting and analyzing IP addresses and cookie data to protect against automated abuse. This abuse takes many forms, such as sending spam to Gmail users, stealing money from advertisers by fraudulently clicking on ads, or censoring content by launching a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
 The “last account activity” feature in Gmail can help you find out if and when someone accessed your email without your knowledge. This feature shows you information about recent activity in Gmail, such as the IP addresses that accessed your mail, the associated location, and the date and time of access.
 Learn more
+search results
+For example, when you’re signed in to your Google Account and have the Personalized Recommendations in Search services control enabled, you can get more relevant search results that are based on your previous searches and activity from other Google services.
+Learn more about Personalized Recommendations in Search services
+. You may also get customized search results even when you’re signed out. If you don’t want this level of search customization, you can
+search and browse privately
+or turn off
+signed-out search customization
+.
 sensitive categories
 When showing you personalized ads, we use topics that we think might be of interest to you based on your activity. For example, you may see ads for things like "Cooking and Recipes" or "Air Travel.” We don’t use topics or show personalized ads based on sensitive categories like race, religion, sexual orientation, or health. And we
 require the same from advertisers
@@ -788,18 +793,14 @@
 use the information we collect across our services
 Depending on your available settings, some examples of how we use the information we collect across our services include:
 When you’re signed in to your Google Account and search on Google, you can see search results from the public web, along with relevant information from the content you have in other Google products, like Gmail or Google Calendar. This can include things like the status of your upcoming flights, restaurant, and hotel reservations, or your photos.
-Learn more
 If you have communicated with someone via Gmail and want to add them to a Google Doc or an event in Google Calendar, Google makes it easy to do so by autocompleting their email address when you start to type in their name. This feature makes it easier to share things with people you know.
 Learn more
-The Google app can use data that you have stored in other Google products to show you personalized content, depending on your settings. For example, if you have searches stored in your Web & App Activity, the Google app can show you news articles and other information about your interests, like sports scores, based on your activity.
+The Google app can use data that you have stored in other Google products to show you personalized content, depending on your settings. For example, if you have searches stored in your Search Services History and have turned on your Personalized Recommendations in Search services setting, the Google app can show you news articles and other information about your interests, like sports scores, based on your activity.
 If you connect your Google Account to your Google Home, you can manage your information and get things done through the Google Assistant. For example, you can add events to your Google Calendar or get your schedule for the day, ask for status updates on your upcoming flight, or send information like driving directions to your phone.
 Learn more
 If you’re a user in the EU, the decisions you make on linking services will affect how certain Google services can use the data across our services.
 Views and interactions with content and ads
 For example, we collect information about views and interactions with ads so we can provide aggregated reports to advertisers, like telling them whether we served their ad on a page and whether the ad was likely seen by a viewer. We may also measure other interactions, such as how you move your mouse over an ad or if you interact with the page on which the ad appears.
-Voice and audio information
-For example, you can choose whether you want Google to save an audio recording to your Google Account when you interact with Google Search, Assistant, and Maps. When your device detects an audio activation command, like “Hey Google,” Google records your voice and audio plus a few seconds before the activation.
-Learn more
 your activity on other sites and apps
 This activity might come from your use of Google services, like from syncing your account with Chrome or your visits to sites and apps that partner with Google. Many websites and apps partner with Google to improve their content and services. For example, a website might use our advertising services (like AdSense) or analytics tools (like Google Analytics), or it might embed other content (such as videos from YouTube). These services may share information about your activity with Google and, depending on your
 account settings