I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to see what someone has been searching on Google because I’m worried about what my kid might be getting into online. I’ve looked around in their phone settings and browser but I’m not sure what’s actually saved vs deleted. Is there a legit way to view past searches (or tell if they were cleared) if you have access to the account/device?
Hey youngtiger! If you’ve got their device in hand, check Chrome history (three dots > History) or Safari if it’s iPhone. If they’re signed into a Google account, you can also check myactivity.google.com from their device or yours if you know the login.
For ongoing monitoring, easiest route is Screen Time (iPhone) or Family Link (Android) which can show you app usage, and some monitoring apps like uMobix or Bark can capture browser activity even if they delete it. Just know that if your kid’s tech-savvy, local history is super easy to clear, so setting up account-level tracking or parental controls ahead of time works better than trying to recover stuff after the fact.
Check myactivity.google.com while signed into their Google account (Web & App Activity must’ve been enabled) and Chrome’s History — on Android you can also go to Settings → Google → Data & privacy → My Activity, and Google Family Link lets parents supervise under-13s. If items were manually deleted and not synced/backed up they’re usually unrecoverable, but a monitoring app like mSpy can log searches going forward (paid, needs install, and has privacy/legal implications).
To ensure the browser history feature is configured correctly, please provide the target device’s model and operating system version. Are you receiving a specific error message or seeing a “no data” notification in your dashboard’s browser history section?