How to Delete All Your Google Home Voice Recordings

Smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Google Home are growing in popularity, mostly as a means to listen to music. But they do a lot more than that, from answering questions to controlling your smart home.

- Eric Griffith

These speakers have microphones that wait for a “wake word” or phrase that puts the speaker into full listening mode. On Google Home devices, which use Google Assistant, the wake word is either “Hey Google” or “Okay Google,” whichever you prefer. (If you want, you can turn off active listening, though it defeats the purpose of having a smart speaker.)

To learn more about you and serve up the best answers (and ads), Google Assistant stores audio of your questions and instructions. Don’t be shocked— companies like Google will gobble up your personal data whenever they can.

Echo devices have had this problem, and as of this summer, so have Google (and Microsoft and Apple).

Thankfully, just as you can delete your history with Alexa on the Amazon Echo, so too can you delete the history of all you’ve said to Google Assistant, whether via Google Home or through your smartphone.

LOG INTO MY ACTIVITY

The easy way to find the recordings for your Google Assistant account is to visit MyActivity.Google.com. You can also go to Google.com, log in to your Google Account, click your picture at the upper right, and select Google Account > Personal Info & Privacy > Manage Your Google Activity. On the next page, click Go to My Activity.

MY MOBILE ACTIVITY