Google just changed a major privacy setting — here’s the switch I turned off immediately
Google just changed a major privacy setting — here’s the switch I turned off immediately
Publish Date: 2026-06-13 00:45:00
Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com
I thought I had a pretty good handle on my Google privacy settings — then I discovered a new AI feature that may be saving more of my activity than I realized.
Known as Search Services History, the setting is designed to help power advanced AI features across Google’s ecosystem. But it also means that images, audio recordings and videos you submit while using certain Google services may be stored in your account history by default.
For some people, that’s a useful feature. For others, it’s another reminder that AI assistants are increasingly hovering over our personal data. When I learned about the change, I immediately checked my own account settings.
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Key Takeaways
- The new setting: Google is quietly rolling out “Search Services History,” a default account setting that saves media shared during AI interactions.
- The privacy risk: This setting permits the storage of uploaded photos, voice interactions, and analyzed videos within your personal account history.
- The balanced fix: Instead of completely disabling Web & App Activity — which breaks personalized features like Google Discover — users can turn off only the media-saving toggle in less than a minute.
What is Search Services history?
The new setting appears inside Google’s Activity Controls and is intended to keep a record of media you share while interacting with AI-powered Google services.
That can include things like:
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- Visual inputs: Photos uploaded to visual search tools or Lens.
- Voice clips: Audio recordings used for real-time voice interactions or voice searches.
- Rich media: Videos submitted for context or multimodal AI analysis.
- AI context: Other personal media shared while using supported AI experiences.
Google says this information can be used to improve its services and that various protections are applied to reduce the amount of personally identifiable information associated with the data. Still, some users may prefer not to…
