Google now allows iPhone users to delete the last 15 minutes of their search history

Google is adding a new feature to the iOS version of the Google Search app that will quickly delete the last 15 minutes of search history from your iPhone. Google announced on Thursday that while it is available for the iOS version of its Search app, those with an Android device will get the feature later this year. To go back in time and remove the last 15 minutes of Google Search on your iPhone, this is what you must do.

First, open the iOS Google app. Tap your profile icon on the top-right of the screen and click on "Delete last 15 min." That's all there is to it. So if you were searching for something or someone that you don't want your significant other to know about, you can zap all traces of the search right off of your iPhone and no one will be the wiser. Google has also disseminated some new features that add extra protection to the search history that is connected to your Google Account.

For example, if you have auto-delete controls enabled you can have Google continuously and automatically whitewash your search history along with other Web and App history after 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months. For new accounts, the default auto-delete option is 18-months although you can always decide to customize it to a shorter or longer time.

Google is also offering a Privacy Checkup as it walks you through settings step-by-step. When done, a stroll over to Security Checkup will give you personal recommendations that allow you to see how strong your defenses are. For example, you can see which third-party apps have access to your account data and learn which passwords in your Google Password Manager are weak.

You'll also be warned if any of those passwords have been compromised and whether you've used some of them multiple times across several sites. Thanks to the use of encryption, hackers and bad actors won't be able to see what you are searching for. And Google says that it never sells to third parties any of the search information that you have generated.

Google says that it protects over 4 billion devices every day with Google Safe Browsing. Google will push out a warning if a user is about to browse to a dangerous site or download questionable files. Webmasters receive similar protection and are notified when their sites are compromised; Google will even diagnose the issue and help fix the problem.

"And our teams and systems are hard at work keeping dangerous and malicious sites from showing up in Google Search," says Google. "Every day, our systems detect over 40 billion pages of spam, which we block from appearing in Search. It’s all part of our work to make Google the safer way to search."