You can use our services in a variety of ways to manage your privacy. For example, you can sign up with Google Account if you want to create and manage content such as emails and photos, or to see more relevant search results. And you can use many of our services when you’re signed out or without creating an account at all; for example, searching on Google or watching YouTube videos. You can also choose to browse the web in a private mode, like Chrome Incognito mode, which helps keep your browsing private from other people who use your device. And across our services, you can adjust your privacy settings to control whether we collect some types of data and how we use it.
To help explain things as clearly as possible, we’ve added examples, explanatory videos and definitions for key terms. And if you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us.
We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use our services
We collect information to provide better services to all our users – from figuring out basic stuff such as which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful, the people who matter most to you online or which YouTube videos you might like. The information Google collects, and how that information is used, depends on how you use our services and how you manage your privacy controls.
When you’re not signed in to a Google Account, we store the information that we collect with unique identifiers tied to the browser, application or device that you’re using. This allows us to do things like maintain your preferences across browsing sessions, such as your preferred language or whether to show you more relevant search results or ads based on your activity.
When you’re signed in, we also collect information that we store with your Google Account, which we treat as personal information.
Things that you create or provide to us
When you create an Account, you provide us with personal information that includes your name and a password. You can also choose to add a phone number or payment information to your account. Even if you aren’t signed in to a Google Account, you might choose to provide us with information — like an email address to communicate with Google or receive updates about our services.
We also collect the content that you create, upload or receive from others when using our services. This includes things such as email you write and receive, photos and videos that you save, docs and spreadsheets you create and comments that you make on YouTube videos.
Information that we collect as you use our services
We collect information about the apps, browsers and devices that you use to access our services, which helps us provide features such as automatic product updates and dimming your screen if your battery runs low.
The information that we collect includes unique identifiers, browser type and settings, device type and settings, operating system, mobile network information including operator name and phone number and application version number. We also collect information about the interaction of your apps, browsers and devices with our services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time and referrer URL of your request.
We collect this information when a Google service on your device contacts our servers – for example, when you install an app from the Play Store or when a service checks for automatic updates. If you’re using an Android device with Google apps, your device periodically contacts Google servers to provide information about your device and connection to our services. This information includes things like your device type and operator name, crash reports, which apps you’ve installed and, depending on your device settings, other information about how you’re using your Android device.
Your location information
We collect location information when you use our services, which helps us offer features like driving directions, search results for things near you and ads based on your location.
Depending on the products that you’re using and the settings that you choose, Google may use different types of location information to help make some services and products that you use more helpful. These include:
- GPS and other sensor data from your device
- IP address
- Activity on Google services; for example, from your searches or places that you label such as home or work
- Information about things near your device, such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers and Bluetooth-enabled devices
The types of location data that we collect and how long we store it depend in part on your device and account settings. For example, you can turn your Android device’s location on or off using the device’s settings app. You can also turn on Location History if you want to create a private map of where you go with your signed-in devices. And if your Web & App Activity setting is enabled, your searches and other activity from Google services, which may also include location information, is saved to your Google Account. Learn more about how we use location information.