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Sometimes, Google (be it any product or service) finds a way to creep you out with cryptic notifications that look nothing but sort of skeptical.
One such notification you may find on Play Store (as well as My Activity) is “Device connected – Updated usage information for some apps”.
Now, if you are wondering whether somebody hacked into one of your devices and updated user information or not, you can rest easy because this notification is nothing even remotely of that sort.
In simple terms, “Device connected – Updated usage information for some apps” means that Google Play Store (or just your Google account, in general) has connected to its server and synced in unsynced data with the server.
Is “Device connected – Updated usage information for some apps” on Play Store a Virus or Spyware?
“Device connected” simply means that the device you are using or one of your devices with your Google account logged in, has been connected to Google’s server.
The “updated usage information” could mean many things such as updation of when you last used some app that is logged in with your Google account or what you searched for on Google, etc.
It is not malware or spyware – therefore, the “Device connected – Updated usage information for some apps” is not something you should be worried about.
What is the My Activity page?
It’s possible to see all of the information Google has gathered about you over time on the My Activity page. You may access this page by signing into your Google account and heading to myactivity.google.com. Search, Image Search, Maps, Play, Shopping, YouTube, and even Help are all included in the My Activity section.
By default, the My Activity page is shown as a timeline, and data is grouped by the current date. By selecting Item view from the menu button (three lines in the top left corner), you may see a list of each item on the timeline.
Does the My Activity page show all the data Google has collected on you?
No. Only a few Google products are included in the My Activity page’s collection of data. The My Activity page can be accessed by clicking the menu symbol in the upper left corner and then selecting Other Google activity. Even more Google trackers, such as your location history on Google Maps (if you have an Android phone with GPS-enabled, this can get very spooky); information from your devices; Google Play Sound Search; and any YouTube films you clicked “Not Interested” on.
What can your delete from My Activity?
The My Activity page allows you to erase anything and everything. Your data is used to personalize your Google experience, so deleting large amounts of it may have a negative impact on the usability of some Google services.
- To delete a single item from the My Activity page, locate it and click the three dots next to it, followed by Delete. (This can also be done for particular days.)
- To delete all of your activity from a specific day, week, month, or custom date range, click the menu button in the upper left corner of the My Activity page and then choose Delete activity by. You can erase activity from today, yesterday, the last 7 days, the last 30 days, or all time from this page. You can also select Custom and input two dates in the After and Before fields to create a custom date range.
- Go to the My Activity page and choose Filter by date & product under the Search box to erase activity by Google product, such as YouTube or Image Search. Select the product (or items) from which you wish to erase activity and press the Search button. Then, next to the Search box, click the three dots and select Delete results.
- To delete an activity connected with a keyword or search term, navigate to the My Activity page, enter the search term in the Search box, and then click the Search button. Then, next to the Search box, click the three dots and select Delete results.
How To Delete Everything At Once From My Activity?
On the page titled “My Activity,” select “Delete activity by” from the menu that appears when you click the button that looks like three horizontal bars. To delete items based on the date, go to the Delete by date section, click the date, and then select All time from the drop-down option. Then, select the Delete option.
How do you stop Google from saving data in the first place?
On the My Activity page, Google is kind enough to provide you with certain privacy settings right there in the page itself. To view the types of activities that you are allowing Google to track, select the menu symbol in the top left corner, then select Activity controls from the drop-down menu that appears.
Modules for Web & App Activity, Location History, Device Information, Voice & Audio Activity, YouTube Search History, and YouTube Watch History may be found in this section. You will see a toggle next to each module that you may deactivate to prevent Google from saving that particular sort of activity. You also have the option to click Manage Activity to go to the activity page for that product.
Why does Google collect usage and other information from users?
A wide variety of websites and mobile applications make use of Google’s services to both enhance their content and keep it free for users. These websites and apps share user information with Google whenever they integrate their respective services.
When you visit a website that embeds video material from YouTube or utilizes advertising services like Google AdSense, for instance, your web browser will automatically send certain information to Google. This can include analytics tools like Google Analytics and advertising services like Google AdSense.
This information comprises the full URL of the page you are currently visiting as well as your current IP address. In addition, cookies may be stored on your browser by us, or they may read cookies that are already stored there. Apps that utilize Google’s advertising services additionally exchange information with Google, including the name of the app and a unique identifier for advertising. This information may include both cookies and non-personally identifiable information.
To deliver their services, maintain and improve them, develop new services, measure the effectiveness of advertising, protect against fraud and abuse, and personalize the content and advertisements you see on Google and on the sites and apps of their partners, Google uses the information shared by their partners’ sites and apps.
You can learn more about the ways in which they process data for each of these purposes by viewing their Privacy Policy. Additionally, you can visit their Advertising page to learn more about Google ads, how your information is used in the context of advertising, and how long Google stores this information.
Their Privacy Policy explains the legal grounds Google relies upon to process your information. For instance, they may process your information with your consent or to pursue legitimate interests such as providing, maintaining, and improving their services to meet the needs of their users.
When Google processes information that was supplied with it by third-party websites and applications, those third-party websites and applications will sometimes ask for the user’s agreement before allowing Google to process the user’s information. For instance, a banner may show up on a website asking for the user’s permission to process the information that the website obtains and send it to Google.
When this occurs, they will follow the purposes indicated in the consent you give to the site or app rather than the legal grounds described in the Google Privacy Policy. This is the case even though the Google Privacy Policy describes the legal grounds. It is recommended that you navigate to the website or app in question in order to make any necessary changes or withdrawals of consent.
How you can control the information collected by Google on sites and apps?
When you browse or interact with websites or apps that utilize Google services, you have some control over the information that is shared by your device. Here are some of the ways in which you can exercise that control:
- Ad Settings gives you the ability to manage advertisements that appear on Google services (like Google Search or YouTube), as well as advertisements that appear on non-Google websites and applications that use Google ad services. You can also discover how tailored advertisements are created, choose not to have your advertisements personalized, and block specific advertisers.
- My Activity gives you the ability to review and control the data that is created when you use Google services, including the information that they collect from the websites and apps that you have visited. This feature is only available if you are signed in to your Google Account, and it varies depending on the settings that you have chosen for your account. You have the ability to look over your activity both by date and by topic, and you can delete individual items or all of it.
- Google Analytics is used by a wide variety of websites and mobile apps to gain insight into how visitors interact with their properties. You can prevent Analytics from being used in your browser by installing the Google Analytics browser add-on. This is an option if you do not want Analytics to be used. Find out more about the privacy settings in Google Analytics.
- You are able to surf the internet in Chrome’s incognito mode without the browser or your account history logging the websites you visit or the files you download (unless you choose to sign in). Cookies are removed from your computer once you have closed all of the incognito windows and tabs, and your saved bookmarks and settings will remain there until you manually remove them. Get more information about cookies.
- You may prevent cookies from being stored on your computer by using several different browsers, including Chrome. You may also delete any cookies that are currently stored on your computer by using your browser’s settings. Get more information about how to manage cookies in Chrome.
