Billions of Android users urged to check devices now for new Google alert that flags ‘stranger danger’
GOOGLE is set to make it less complex to find and remove personal contact information that may be outed online somewhere in a new update.
The technology giant will now send notifications when your address, phone number, or email appears when you are searched.
The update release day is “in the coming days,” Google said on Thursday.
It can be accessed by Android users, on the Google app or however you access Search.
It is intended to keep you protected from strangers getting ahold of you.
The tool called “Results about you” was launched in 2022 and was intended to allow you to request the removal of search results.
The update is an improvement of the tool.
It now will help you keep track of your personal contact information in Search and alert you when it is found so you can get it remove, per Google.
This will be done through a new dashboard that will let you know if web results with your contact information are showing up on Search.
In the dashboard, you can quickly request the removal of those results.
Google will also now update you when any new results show up.
The tool can be accessed in the Google app by clicking on your Google account photo and selecting “Results about you”, or going to goo.gle/resultsaboutyou.
The tool will first only be available in the US in English to start and new languages and locations will be added soon, per Google.
The contact information update comes on the heels of another security update from Google.
On Monday, Google announced that it will be adding an updated permission setting for when searching the web on its Chrome browser on a computer.
The new Google Chrome permission setting will show up as “Allow this time” and is intended to make giving websites access to the “most common permissions” safer and clearer.
This includes your microphone, geolocation, and camera,
The update will better pinpoint exactly how you would like to give permission to release this information.
It will do this by asking for additional customization for the permission request through an “appear this time” option.
If you choose this option Google will continue to ask permission every time and not keep track of your information.