In an effort to give users more control over their online privacy, Google has released a series of new updates to Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Assistant.
For starters, the search giant is adding a private navigation mode to Google Maps. Google added this feature to YouTube earlier this year and is now rolling it out to Google Maps. When a user turns on private browsing mode in Google Maps, their activity on the device they're using, such as the places they're looking for, won't be saved to their Google account or used to personalize their Google Maps experience.
Activating the new feature is also easy and can be done by pressing your profile picture. Incognito mode in Maps can be turned off at any time when a user wants to receive restaurant recommendations, travel information, or other features tailored to their needs.
Google announced an auto-delete feature that can delete a user's location history, web activity, and apps earlier this year. This feature was so well received that the company decided to upload it to YouTube. Now users can set a time period from three to 18 months and the service will automatically delete their browsing and viewing history.
Google Assistant is also getting an update that will allow users to understand and manage the data stored by their PDAs. In the coming weeks, users will be able to delete data from their account simply by asking the assistant to do so by saying, for example, "Hey Google, delete everything I told you last week."
Verify password
Earlier this year, Google released its Chrome Password Checkup extension, which scans the web for usernames and passwords obtained by hackers and tells users which ones to match. The extension is very popular and has already been downloaded 1 million times.
Google is now supporting this technology to recognize Cyber Security Awareness Month. The company recently launched password check on users' Google accounts to help check all saved passwords against security threats with one click.
Starting here at the end of the year, the password check extension will even be integrated with Chrome as part of the company's ongoing efforts to automatically protect user information on the web.
As users' expectations of security and privacy evolve, Google is making concerted efforts to further protect its users from growing cyber threats and help them better manage their data online.
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