At a time when privacy is the cynosure of everything that is tech, Google is taking a step ahead in expanding security-related features to more apps, services and Assistant. The company has added new features in Maps, YouTube and Assistant so that users can manage their data and control what information is stored/shared.
Google has announced that it will start rolling out Incognito Mode in Google Maps. By turning on this mode, Maps will not save users’ activity, such as the places they search for, location etc. While this sounds great for those who take their privacy very seriously, but this comes at a cost. If you turn this feature on, the company won't be able to personalise the your Maps experience. Incognito mode will start rolling out on Android in the coming weeks, and it will come on iOS soon. For those who don’t know, apps like Google Chrome and YouTube already have Incognito Mode feature.
Google has extended its auto-delete feature to YouTube history. Now, users can schedule the deletion of their YouTube history for time periods of 3 or 18 months. Google will automatically delete YouTube search history as per user’s choice. The feature was first rolled out to Location History and Web and App Activity. Users will still have an option to keep their data until they choose to delete it manually.
Google has been incorporating its virtual assistant, the Google Assistant, across all its products and services to manage tasks easily. The company has now added new ways for users to understand and manage their data in the Assistant, quickly. They can now learn more about what Google is doing to keep their data private and secure by simply asking the Assistant, ‘Hey Google, how do you keep my data safe?’
The feature will be rolled out in English in the coming weeks and in other languages next month. Thereafter, users will be able to delete data from their account just by saying things like ‘Hey Google, delete the last thing I said to you’ or ‘Hey Google, delete everything I said to you last week.’ In case, a user asks to delete more than a week’s worth of data, the Assistant will point the user directly to the page in their account settings to complete the deletion.
Google has now introduced Password Checkup in Password Manager. It is a new tool that -- with one click -- tells users if any of the users’ passwords are weak, reused, or have been exposed in a third-party breach.
