Google splits ‘Web & App Activity’ up with new ‘Workspace search history’ setting

February 3, 2022

On the Google My Activity page, one of the very first controls shown is Web & App Activity. Google will soon break up that setting with a new “Workspace search history” preference.

At the moment, Web & App Activity “saves your activity on Google sites and apps, including associated info like location, to give you faster searches, better recommendations, and more personalized experiences in Maps, Search, and other Google services.”

In the near future, it will no longer encompass all Google services. Search data from Workspace apps will be governed by a new setting:

When [Google Workspace search history is] enabled, as you type search text, you see suggestions from your search history. You can easily rerun previous searches.

This will include data from Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, and Currents, as well as visits to Workspace websites such as Google Cloud and Google Sites. Google notes that more Workspace services “are to be added” in the future. Like the other settings, Workspace search activity is automatically deleted after 18 months, but it can also be set to three or 36 months. The company reiterates that it “never uses your data in Google Workspace core services for advertising.”

Once live, Google Workspace search history will be on by default but can be disabled from the My Activity page > Other Google activity > Google Workspace search history. The new setting starts rolling out on March 29. Admins will not be able to set this preference, only end users.

Meanwhile, Web & App Activity is changing so that it “only collects searches for additional Google services” that are outside of the Workspace suite. More details are available in this help article.

More on Google Workspace:

Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google

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