When you use our services, you’re trusting us with your
information. We understand this is a big responsibility and
work hard to protect your information and put you in
control.
This Privacy Policy is meant to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how
you can update, manage, export, and delete your information.
Privacy Checkup
Looking to change your privacy settings?
Take the Privacy Checkup
Effective December 15, 2022
Archived versions
We build a range of services that help millions of people daily to explore and interact with the world in new
ways. Our services include:
Google apps, sites, and devices, like Search, YouTube, and Google Home
Platforms like the Chrome browser and Android operating system
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. And across our services, you can adjust your privacy settings
to control what we collect and how your information is used.
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 contact us.
INFORMATION GOOGLE COLLECTS
We want you to understand the types of information we
collect as you use our services
We collect information to provide better services to all our users — from figuring out basic stuff like which
language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful, 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 unique identifiers
tied to the browser, application, or device you’re using. This allows us to do things like maintain your
preferences across browsing sessions, such as your preferred language or whether to show you more
relevant search results or ads based on your activity.
When you’re signed in, we also collect information that we store with your Google Account, which we treat as
personal information.
Things you create or provide to us
When you create a Google Account, you provide us with personal information that includes your name and a
password. You can also choose to add a phone number or payment information to your account. Even if you
aren’t signed in to a Google Account, you might choose to provide us with information — like an email address
to communicate with Google or receive updates about our services.
We also collect the content you create, upload, or receive from others when using our services. This includes
things like email you write and receive, photos and videos you save, docs and spreadsheets you create, and
comments you make on YouTube videos.
Information we collect as you use our services
Your apps, browsers & devices
We collect information about the apps, browsers, and devices you use to access Google services, which helps
us provide features like automatic product updates and dimming your screen if your battery runs low.
The information we collect includes unique identifiers, browser type and settings, device type and settings,
operating system, mobile network information including carrier name and phone number, and application
version number. We also collect information about the interaction of your apps, browsers, and devices with
our services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time, and referrer URL of your
request.
We collect this information when a Google service on your device contacts our servers — for example, when
you install an app from the Play Store or when a service checks for automatic updates. If you’re using an
Android device with Google apps, your device periodically contacts Google servers to provide information
about your device and connection to our services. This information includes things like your device type and
carrier name, crash reports, which apps you've installed, and, depending on your device settings, other
information about how you’re using your Android device.
Your activity
We collect information about your activity in our services, which we use to do things like recommend a
YouTube video you might like. The activity information we collect may include:
Terms you search for
Videos you watch
Views and interactions with content and ads
Voice and audio information
Purchase activity
People with whom you communicate or share content
Activity on third-party sites and apps that use our services
Chrome browsing history you’ve synced with your Google Account
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 in your account.
Go to Google Account
Your location information
We collect information about your location when you use our services, which helps us offer features like
driving directions, search results for things near you, and ads based on your general location.
Your location can be determined with varying degrees of accuracy by:
GPS and other sensor data from your device
IP address
Activity on Google services, such as your searches and places you label like home or work
Information about things near your device, such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and Bluetooth-
enabled devices
The types of location data we collect and how long we store it depend in part on your device and account
settings. For example, you can turn your Android device’s location on or off using the device’s settings app.
You can also turn on Location History 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
how we use location information.
In some circumstances, Google also collects information about you from publicly accessible sources. For
example, if your name appears in your local newspaper, Google’s Search engine may index that article and
display it to other people if they search for your name. We may also collect information about you from
trusted partners, such as directory services who provide us with business information to be displayed onGoogle’s services, marketing partners who provide us with information about potential customers of our
business services, and security partners who provide us with information to protect against abuse. We also
receive information from advertising partners to provide advertising and research services on their behalf.
We use various technologies to collect and store information, including cookies, pixel tags, local storage, such
as browser web storage or application data caches, databases, and server logs.
WHY GOOGLE COLLECTS DATA
We use data to build better services
We use the information we collect from all our services for the following purposes:
Provide our services
We use your information to deliver our services, like processing the terms you search for in order to return
results or helping you share content by suggesting recipients from your contacts.
Maintain & improve our services
We also use your information to ensure our services are working as intended, such as tracking outages or
troubleshooting issues that you report to us. And we use your information to make improvements to our
services — for example, understanding which search terms are most frequently misspelled helps us improve
spell-check features used across our services.
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. For example, Security Checkup provides security tips
adapted to how you use Google products. And Google Play uses information like apps you’ve already
installed and videos you’ve watched on YouTube to suggest new apps you might like.
Depending on your settings, we may also show you personalized ads based on your interests. For example, if
you search for “mountain bikes,” you may see an ad for sports equipment when you’re browsing a site that
shows ads served by Google. You can control what information we use to show you ads by visiting your ad
settings in My Ad Center.
We don’t show you personalized ads based on sensitive categories, such as race, religion, sexual
orientation, or health.
We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos.
We don’t share information that personally identifies you with advertisers, such as your name or email,
unless you ask us to. For example, if you see an ad for a nearby flower shop and select the “tap to call”
button, we’ll connect your call and may share your phone number with the flower shop.
Go to My Ad Center
Measure performance
We use data for analytics and measurement to understand how our services are used. For example, we
analyze data about your visits to our sites to do things like optimize product design. And we also use data
about the ads you interact with to help advertisers understand the performance of their ad campaigns. We
use a variety of tools to do this, including Google Analytics. When you visit sites or use apps that use Google
Analytics, a Google Analytics customer may choose to enable Google to link information about your activity
from that site or app with activity from other sites or apps that use our ad services.
Communicate with you
We use information we collect, like your email address, to interact with you directly. For example, we may
send you a notification if we detect suspicious activity, like an attempt to sign in to your Google Account from
an unusual location. Or we may let you know about upcoming changes or improvements to our services. And if you contact Google, we’ll keep a record of your request in order to help solve any issues you might be
facing.
Protect Google, our users, and the public
We use information to help improve the safety and reliability 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 detect abuse
such as spam, malware, and illegal content. We also use algorithms to recognize patterns in data. For
example, Google Translate helps people communicate across languages by detecting common language
patterns in phrases you ask it to translate.
We may combine the information we collect among our services and across your devices for the purposes
described above. For example, if you watch videos of guitar players on YouTube, you might see an ad for
guitar lessons on a site that uses our ad products. Depending on your account settings, your activity on other
sites and apps may be associated with your personal information in order to improve Google’s services and
the ads delivered by Google.
If other users already have your email address or other information that identifies you, we may show them
your publicly visible Google Account information, such as your name and photo. This helps people identify an
email coming from you, for example.
We’ll ask for your consent before using your information for a purpose that isn’t covered in this Privacy Policy.
YOUR PRIVACY CONTROLS
You have choices regarding the information we collect and
how it's used
This section describes key controls for managing your privacy across our services. You can also visit the
Privacy Checkup, which provides an opportunity to review and adjust important privacy settings. In addition to these tools, we also offer specific privacy settings in our products — you can learn more in our Product
Privacy Guide.
Go to Privacy Checkup
Managing, reviewing, and updating your information
When you’re signed in, you can always review and update information by visiting the services you use. For
example, Photos and Drive are both designed to help you manage specific types of content you’ve saved with
Google.
We also built a place for you to review and control information saved in your Google Account. Your 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 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
Ad settings
Manage your preferences about the ads shown to you on Google and on sites and apps that
partner with Google to show ads. You can modify your interests, choose whether your personal
information is used to make ads more relevant to you, and turn on or off certain advertising
services. About you
Manage personal info in your Google Account and control who can see it across Google
services.
Go to About You
Shared endorsements
Choose whether your name and photo appear next to your activity, like reviews and
recommendations, that appear in ads.
Go to Shared Endorsements
Sites and apps that use Google services
Manage information that websites and apps using Google services, like Google Analytics, may
share with Google when you visit or interact with their services.
Go to How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services
Ways to review & update your information
My Activity
My Activity allows you to review and control data that’s saved to your Google Account when
you’re signed in and using Google services, like searches you’ve done or your visits to Google
Play. You can browse by date and by topic, and delete part or all of your activity.
Go to My Activity
Google Dashboard
Google Dashboard allows you to manage information associated with specific products.
Go to Dashboard Your personal information
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.
YouTube settings: Pause and delete your YouTube Search History and your YouTube Watch History.
Ad Settings: Manage your preferences about the ads shown to you on Google and on sites and apps
that partner with Google to show ads.
Exporting, removing & deleting your information
You can export a copy of content in your Google Account if you want to back it up or use it with a service
outside of Google.
Export your data
To delete your information, you can:
Delete your content from specific Google services
Search for and then delete specific items from your account using My Activity
Delete specific Google products, including your information associated with those products
Delete your entire Google Account
Delete your informationInactive Account Manager allows you to give someone else access to parts of your Google Account in case
you’re unexpectedly unable to use your account.
And finally, you can also request to remove content from specific Google services based on applicable law
and our policies.
There are other ways to control the information Google collects whether or not you’re signed in to a Google
Account, including:
Browser settings: For example, you can configure your browser to indicate when Google has set a
cookie in your browser. You can also configure your browser to block all cookies from a specific domain
or all domains. But remember that our services rely on cookies to function properly, for things like
remembering your language preferences.
Device-level settings: Your device may have controls that determine what information we collect. For
example, you can modify location settings on your Android device.
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION
When you share your information
Many of our services let you share information with other people, and you have control over how you share.
For example, you can share videos on YouTube publicly or you can decide to keep your videos private.
Remember, when you share information publicly, your content may become accessible through search
engines, including Google Search.
When you’re signed in and interact with some Google services, like leaving comments on a YouTube video or
reviewing an app in Play, your name and photo appear next to your activity. We may also display this
information in ads depending on your Shared endorsements setting.
When Google shares your information
We do not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Google
except in the following cases With your consent
We’ll share personal information outside of Google when we have your consent. For example, if you use
Google Home to make a reservation through a booking service, we’ll get your permission before sharing your
name or phone number with the restaurant. We also provide you with controls to review and manage third
party apps and sites you have given access to data in your Google Account. We’ll ask for your explicit consent
to share any sensitive personal information.
With domain administrators
If you’re a student or work for an organization that uses Google services, your domain administrator and
resellers who manage your account will have access to your Google Account. They may be able to:
Access and retain information stored in your account, like your email
View statistics regarding your account, like how many apps you install
Change your account password
Suspend or terminate your account access
Receive your account information in order to satisfy applicable law, regulation, legal process, or
enforceable governmental request
Restrict your ability to delete or edit your information or your privacy settings
For external processing
We provide personal information to our affiliates and other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us,
based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality
and security measures. For example, we use service providers to help operate our data centers, deliver our
products and services, improve our internal business processes, and offer additional support to customers
and users. We also use service providers to help review YouTube video content for public safety and analyze
and listen to samples of saved user audio to help improve Google’s audio recognition technologies.
For legal reasons We will share personal information outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use,
preservation, or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:
Meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request. We share
information about the number and type of requests we receive from governments in our Transparency
Report.
Enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations.
Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues.
Protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, our users, or the public as required or
permitted by law.
We may share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners — like publishers,
advertisers, developers, or rights holders. For example, we share information publicly to show trends about
the general use of our services. We also allow specific partners to collect information from your browser or
device for advertising and measurement purposes using their own cookies or similar technologies.
If Google is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, we’ll continue to ensure the confidentiality of
your personal information and give affected users notice before personal information is transferred or
becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SECURE
We build security into our services to protect your
information
All Google products are built with strong security features that continuously protect your information. The
insights we gain from maintaining our services help us detect and automatically block security threats from
ever reaching you. And if we do detect something risky that we think you should know about, we’ll notify you
and help guide you through steps to stay better protected.
We work hard to protect you and Google from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction of
information we hold, including:
We use encryption to keep your data private while in transit We offer a range of security features, like Safe Browsing, Security Checkup, and 2 Step Verification to
help you protect your account
We review our information collection, storage, and processing practices, including physical security
measures, to prevent unauthorized access to our systems
We restrict access to personal information to Google employees, contractors, and agents who need that
information in order to process it. Anyone with this access is subject to strict contractual confidentiality
obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
EXPORTING & DELETING YOUR INFORMATION
You can export a copy of your information or delete it from
your Google Account at any time
You can export a copy of content in your Google Account if you want to back it up or use it with a service
outside of Google.
Export your data
To delete your information, you can:
Delete your content from specific Google services
Search for and then delete specific items from your account using My Activity
Delete specific Google products, including your information associated with those products
Delete your entire Google Account
Delete your information
RETAINING YOUR INFORMATION We retain the data we collect for different periods of time depending on what it is, how we use it, and how you
configure your settings:
Some data you can delete whenever you like, such as your personal info or the content you create or
upload, like photos and documents. You can also delete activity information saved in your account, or
choose to have it deleted automatically after a set period of time. We’ll keep this data in your Google
Account until you remove it or choose to have it removed.
Other data is deleted or anonymized automatically after a set period of time, such as advertising data in
server logs.
We keep some data until you delete your Google Account, such as information about how often you use
our services.
And some data we retain for longer periods of time when necessary for legitimate business or legal
purposes, such as security, fraud and abuse prevention, or financial record-keeping.
When you delete data, we follow a deletion process to make sure that your data is safely and completely
removed from our servers or retained only in anonymized form. We try to ensure that our services protect
information from accidental or malicious deletion. Because of this, there may be delays between when you
delete something and when copies are deleted from our active and backup systems.
You can read more about Google’s data retention periods, including how long it takes us to delete your
information.
COMPLIANCE & COOPERATION WITH REGULATORS
We regularly review this Privacy Policy and make sure that we process your information in ways that comply
with it.
Data transfers
We maintain servers around the world and your information may be processed on servers located outside of
the country where you live. Data protection laws vary among countries, with some providing more protection
than others. Regardless of where your information is processed, we apply the same protections described in
this policy. We also comply with certain legal frameworks relating to the transfer of data.When we receive formal written complaints, we respond by contacting the person who made the complaint.
We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve
any complaints regarding the transfer of your data that we cannot resolve with you directly.
ABOUT THIS POLICY
When this policy applies
This Privacy Policy applies to all of the services offered by Google LLC and its affiliates, including YouTube,
Android, and services offered on third-party sites, such as advertising services. This Privacy Policy doesn’t
apply to services that have separate privacy policies that do not incorporate this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy doesn’t apply to:
The information practices of other companies and organizations that advertise our services
Services offered by other companies or individuals, including products or sites they offer that may
include Google services to which the policy applies, or products or sites displayed to you in search
results, or linked from our services
Changes to this policy
We change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy
without your explicit consent. We always indicate the date the last changes were published and we offer
access to archived versions for your review. If changes are significant, we’ll provide a more prominent notice
(including, for certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes).
RELATED PRIVACY PRACTICES
Specific Google services
The following privacy notices provide additional information about some Google services:
Chrome & the Chrome Operating System
Payments
Fiber
Google Fi
Google Workspace for Education
Read Along
YouTube Kids
Google Accounts Managed with Family Link, for Children under 13 (or applicable age in your country)
Family Link privacy guide for children & teens
Voice and Audio Collection from Children’s Features on the Google Assistant
If you’re a member of an organization that uses Google Workspace or Google Cloud Platform, learn how
these services collect and use your personal information in the Google Cloud Privacy Notice.
Other useful resources
The following links highlight useful resources for you to learn more about our practices and privacy settings.
Your Google Account is home to many of the settings you can use to manage your account
Privacy Checkup guides you through key privacy settings for your Google Account
Google’s safety center helps you learn more about our built-in security, privacy controls, and tools to
help set digital ground rules for your family online
Google’s Teen Privacy Guide provides answers to some of the top questions we get asked about privacy
Privacy & Terms provides more context regarding this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service
Technologies includes more information about:
How Google uses cookies
Technologies used for Advertising Key terms
Affiliates
An affiliate is an entity that belongs to the Google group of companies, including the following companies
that provide consumer services in the EU: Google Ireland Limited, Google Commerce Ltd, Google Payment
Corp, and Google Dialer Inc. Learn more about the companies providing business services in the EU.
Algorithm
A process or set of rules followed by a computer in performing problem-solving operations.
Application data cache
An application data cache is a data repository on a device. It can, for example, enable a web application to
run without an internet connection and improve the performance of the application by enabling faster
loading of content.
Browser web storage
Browser web storage enables websites to store data in a browser on a device. When used in "local storage"
mode, it enables data to be stored across sessions. This makes data retrievable even after a browser has
been closed and reopened. One technology that facilitates web storage is HTML 5.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a
website. When you visit the site again, the cookie allows that site to recognize your browser. Cookies may
store user preferences and other information. You can configure your browser to refuse all cookies or to
indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some website features or services may not function properly without cookies. Learn more about how Google uses cookies and how Google uses data, including cookies,
when you use our partners' sites or apps.
Device
A device is a computer that can be used to access Google services. For example, desktop computers, tablets,
smart speakers, and smartphones are all considered devices.
GoogleAccount
You may access some of our services by signing up for a Google Account and providing us with some
personal information (typically your name, email address, and a password). This account information is used
to authenticate you when you access Google services and protect your account from unauthorized access
by others. You can edit or delete your account at any time through your Google Account settings.
IP address
Every device connected to the Internet is assigned a number known as an Internet protocol (IP) address.
These numbers are usually assigned in geographic blocks. An IP address can often be used to identify the
location from which a device is connecting to the Internet.
Non-personally identifiable information
This is information that is recorded about users so that it no longer reflects or references an individually-
identifiable user.
Personal information
This is information that you provide to us which personally identifies you, such as your name, email address,
or billing information, or other data that can be reasonably linked to such information by Google, such as
information we associate with your Google Account.
Pixel tag A pixel tag is a type of technology placed on a website or within the body of an email for the purpose of
tracking certain activity, such as views of a website or when an email is opened. Pixel tags are often used in
combination with cookies.
Referrer URL
A Referrer URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is information transmitted to a destination webpage by a web
browser, typically when you click a link to that page. The Referrer URL contains the URL of the last webpage
the browser visited.
Sensitive personal information
This is a particular category of personal information relating to topics such as confidential medical facts,
racial or ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs, or sexuality.
Server logs
Like most websites, our servers automatically record the page requests made when you visit our sites. These
“server logs” typically include your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language,
the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
A typical log entry for a search for “cars” looks like this:
123.45.67.89 - 25/Mar/2003 10:15:32 -
http://www.google.com/search?q=cars -
Firefox 1.0.7; Windows NT 5.1 -
740674ce2123e969
123.45.67.89 is the Internet Protocol address assigned to the user by the user’s ISP. Depending on the
user’s service, a different address may be assigned to the user by their service provider each time they
connect to the Internet.
25/Mar/2003 10:15:32 is the date and time of the query.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cars is the requested URL, including the search query.
Firefox 1.0.7; Windows NT 5.1 is the browser and operating system being used.
