How To Password Protect Your Google Activity History

As most of you know by now, Google has a lot of tools at your disposal to help protect your account and data. One of them is called My Google Activity, and there’s a lot of data included there. It’s not exactly a secret Google collects plenty of data, and thanks to this tool, the company knows how you use its services. That goes for all of its services, from Google Maps to YouTube. That helps the company determine what suggestions to throw your way, and it also gives it a lot of data in general. Needless to say, you don’t want this data to get into the wrong hands, so if you want to be extra careful, we’ll show you how to password protect your Google Activity History.

One thing to note is that this is not necessary if you’re the only one using your computer, and your computer is password protected. If you have a fingerprint scanner on it, or simply use password protection, it’s likely not needed. If someone else is using that computer as well, or you allow someone to browse it frequently, adding this extra layer of protection may not be a bad idea. That being said, we’ll show you how to do it below. We’ll lead you one step at a time, and also add some screenshots for good measure.

How to password protect your Google Activity history

Do note that you’ll need your computer for this, as you need to access the Google Activity web portal. So, navigate to myactivity.google.com in your browser of choice. Do note that you’ll need to be logged in to your Google account in that browser, though, of course.

Once you’re on the site, and in the main menu of that portal, you’ll need to tap the hamburger menu in the top-left corner.

A side menu will appear, and you’ll see several options there. What we’re looking for is “Activity controls”, click that.

Once the new site opens, navigate to the “Manage activity” option, which is located under the “Web & App Activity” section. Chances are you’ll see this option when you open the menu, you won’t even need to scroll down. That does depend on the size and resolution of your monitor, of course.

The next step is clicking on the “Manage My Activity verification” option.

Once you tap that, a new pop-up menu will appear. You’ll see two options there, the “Don’t require extra verification”, which is currently set, and the “Require extra verification” option. You’ll need to select the first one, and click “Save” in the bottom-right corner.

When that is done, Google will ask you to sign in to your Google account again. When you sign in, you’ll notice the “Verify” button in your Google Activity dashboard. So, you’ll need to verify your identity every time you want to mess around with that dashboard. You’ll essentially be asked to re-enter your password every time.