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Feel Awkward Over the Last Google Search on Your Phone? Here's How to Delete It

No worries. With just two easy steps, you can wipe out your most recent searches.

Queenie Wong Former Senior Writer
Queenie Wong was a senior writer for CNET News, focusing on social media companies including Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter and TikTok. Before joining CNET, she worked for The Mercury News in San Jose and the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. A native of Southern California, she took her first journalism class in middle school.
Expertise I've been writing about social media since 2015 but have previously covered politics, crime and education. I also have a degree in studio art. Credentials
  • 2022 Eddie award for consumer analysis
Queenie Wong
'How to delete your search' being searched in Google Chrome for a phone

At its I/O conference in 2021, Google announced a new way for you to scrub your recent search history.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Chances are you've used Google Search on your phone to look up something random, weird, scary or downright embarrassed. But there's no need to feel uncomfortable or silly. Google has a quick way to delete your search history in the app from the last 15 minutes. (And your search history isn't the only data Google has on you. Here's an in-depth guide to viewing Google's record of your online activity and minimizing the personal information it can track.)

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This quick-delete feature, which the search giant unveiled at its Google I/O developers conference in 2021, is among a handful of options designed to protect user privacy

While Google didn't get into the nitty-gritty of the various reasons why someone might want to expunge the record of their search history, the company did demonstrate how to do it, along with hiding select pictures from Google Photos

You can watch how to do it in the video below, or scroll down for instructions on how to delete your recent search history. 

Watch this: Google now lets you delete recent search history and hide photos

How to quick-delete your Google search history from the last 15 minutes

Step 1: Tap on your profile picture to access your menu.

Step 2: Click Delete last 15 minutes.

That's it! When you've done that, Google will erase all your search history from the previous quarter of an hour.

For more, check out how to control what information your apps can access in Android 12 and three Google Maps tricks