Google makes auto-delete location and activity data available

From now on, Google lets you set a time limit, after which the location and activity data that the company keeps about you are automatically deleted.

The feature was already announced at the beginning of May, but is only now being gradually rolled out to users on both Android and iOS.

Users can set an interval of three or 18 months to delete the data. As soon as you enable the auto-delete-function, all historical data that is older than the chosen interval will also be deleted from your account.

Among other things, the tool comes in after persistent criticism of Google’s extensive data collection, which is not always very transparent. Last year, research by the Associated Press revealed that Google kept track of the location history of Android and iOS users in some cases even when they had explicitly indicated that they did not want to do so.

But Google is certainly not the only one. During the recent developer conferences, all the major technology giants placed the emphasis on privacy, with the introduction of new tools to give users the feeling that they are gaining more control over their own data.

The automatic deletion of location and activity data is in line with this. Google already offered the possibility to remove this data from your account, but until now this was a manual process that puts the effort in the hands of the user.