On Thursday, American tech company, Google has launched a new privacy feature for their users which instantly deletes the last 15 minutes of search history on mobile.
According to The Verge, the new option was first revealed alongside the several other search and Chrome improvements at I/O 2021 and is now rolling out for everyone.
However, the new feature of deleting the last 15 minutes of search history is currently available in Googles’s iOS app and headed to Android later this year.
On desktop, the options for deleting the search history is limited to setting the history of auto-delete every three, 18, or 36 months (18 months is the default for new accounts), or deleting searches by hand.
On this new privacy feature, Google says “It only tracks your search history to “personalize” your experience when the “Web and App Activity” setting is enabled. Adding a way to instantly delete your history is great for your peace of mind, but it also means you can get some of the benefits the people who’ve taken the time to mess with their settings receive, without doing the extra work. This of it as an emergency “oh no” button for terrible, embarrassing, or just plain the private searches. If you’d rather just want to secure your searches from prying, non-Google eyes have rather than delete them.”
The tech giant also offers the option to password protect the user’s search history.