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Privacy Analysis 2025

GOOGLE &
YOUR
DATA

What Google stores on your Android smartphone and in your Google account — based on academic studies, regulatory decisions and Google's own privacy policies.

$264.5bn in advertising revenue in 2024 — financed by user data
01 — Key figures
The scale of data collection
340
Location transmissions per day — from an idle Android device
Vanderbilt University, Prof. Schmidt, 2018
20×
More telemetry dataTelemetryUsage data collected automatically in the background: which apps you open, how long you use them, what settings you have. Transmitted without any active input from you. than Apple collects from iPhones
Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Leith, 2021
747
Times per day a US user is exposed via RTBReal-Time BiddingReal-time auctions for advertising slots. When you open a website, your data is sent in milliseconds to thousands of advertising companies that bid for the ad placement. auctions
ICCL Real-Time Bidding Report, 2022
1.8bn
Gmail accounts serve as a cross-device tracking ID
Google's own figures
211k+
Government data requests worldwide in a single half-year
Google Transparency Report, H1 2023
€11.3bn
Total EU fines against Google (cumulative to 2025)
European Commission, CNIL
02 — Data collection
What Google collects on Android
📍
Location & Movement
GPS coordinates Wi-Fi access points Cell towers Bluetooth beacons IP address Accelerometer Movement patterns
📱
Device & System
IMEI Hardware serial number SIM serial number Phone number Wi-Fi MAC address OS version Battery status Network info
🔍
Activity & Search
Google search queries Chrome history App usage duration Installed apps Crash reports Voice searches Scroll depth
🤖
System Apps & Biometrics
Messages metadata Call metadata Advertising IDAdvertising IDA unique number on your smartphone that advertising companies use to track your behaviour across different apps. Assistant recordings Facial recognition (Photos) Gemini interactions
⚠️ Critical finding: Google Messages and Google Dialer send metadataMetadataNot the content itself, but data about the content: who called whom, when, for how long, from which location. Often more revealing than the content itself. to Google servers with every message and call — without an opt-outOpt-outThe ability to object to data collection after the fact. For many system-level data types, Google does not offer this option at all. option (Trinity College Dublin, 2022). Even with telemetry disabled, the IMEIIMEIInternational Mobile Equipment Identity — a globally unique 15-digit number that uniquely identifies every mobile phone. Like a fingerprint for your device., serial number and phone number are still transmitted.
03 — Retention periods
How long Google keeps your data
Data category Default retention User control
Web & app activity
 18 months (new accounts) Auto-delete
YouTube history
 18 months (new accounts) Auto-delete
Location history
 18 months (new accounts) Auto-delete
Gmail content
 Indefinite (active account) No auto-delete
Google Photos
 Indefinite (active account) No auto-delete
IP addresses (server logs)
 9 months No control
Gemini conversations (human review)
 Up to 3 years No control
04 — Advertising data & real-time bidding
The largest data leak in history
294bn
RTB transmissions per day — in the US alone
Real-Time BiddingRTBReal-time auction: every time you visit a website, your data is sent in milliseconds to thousands of advertising companies. 294 billion such transmissions daily in the US alone. sends your behaviour, location and inferred sensitive data to thousands of companies with every website visit.
🇺🇸 USA
747×/day
🇪🇺 Europe
376×/day
🇩🇪 Germany
19.6M/min.
4,698
Companies receive RTB data in the US
87%
Market share in RTB publisher segment (DOJDOJDepartment of Justice — the US Justice Department. Sued Google in 2023 for monopolistic abuse in the advertising market.)
35.4M
Websites in the Google RTB network
05 — Platform comparison
Android vs. iOS
Android
Google · opt-out model
~1 MB
Data on device start
1 MB / 12h
Data while idle
Opt-out
Tracking consent model
Not blocked
3rd-party cookies (Chrome)
Cloud-based
Facial recognition (Photos)
75–77%
Share of advertising revenue
VS
iOS
Apple · opt-in model
~42 KB
Data on device start
52 KB / 12h
Data while idle
Opt-in (ATTATTApp Tracking Transparency — Apple's system since iOS 14.5 that requires every app to actively ask for permission before tracking. Around 75% of users decline.)
Tracking consent model
Blocked by default
3rd-party cookies (Safari)
On-device
Facial recognition (Photos)
~8%
Share of advertising revenue
06 — Regulation
EU fines against Google
2017
Preferential treatment of own shopping services in search
European Commission · Competition law
€2.42bn
2018
Illegal bundling of Android with Google apps
European Commission · Competition law
€4.10bn
2019
Restrictions on AdSense partners
European Commission · Competition law
€1.49bn
2022
Covert location tracking despite deactivation
40 US states · Settlement
$391M
2025
Abuse of dominant position in ad tech
European Commission · DMADMADigital Markets Act — the EU law for digital markets (since 2024). Designed to limit the market power of tech giants such as Google, Apple and Meta. competition law
€2.95bn
2025
Dark patternsDark patternsManipulative design tricks that lead users into unwanted decisions — e.g. hidden opt-out buttons, confusing menu navigation or pre-ticked consent boxes. in Gmail ads and account creation
CNILCNILCommission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés — the French data protection authority. One of the most active in Europe. (France) · Data protection law
€325M
TOTAL EU FINES (CUMULATIVE)
€11.3bn+
07 — What you can do
Data control & countermeasures
🔍
View your activity
myactivity.google.com

Complete overview of all stored search queries, pages visited and app usage. Individual entries or entire time periods can be deleted.

⚙️
Set up auto-delete
myaccount.google.com → Privacy

Set web activity, location history and YouTube history to auto-delete after 3, 18 or 36 months. Default for new accounts: 18 months.

📦
Export your data
takeout.google.com

Export all your data from 50+ Google services: Gmail, Drive, Photos, Maps, YouTube, Chrome. Long-term users often export dozens of gigabytes.

🎯
View your ad profile
myadcenter.google.com

View the advertising profile Google has built for you: attributed age, interests across hundreds of categories, estimated household income bracket.

📱
Reset advertising ID
Android Settings → Google → Ads

Reset or disable the device-level advertising IDAdvertising IDA unique identifier on your device that advertising companies use to track your app behaviour. Resetting it breaks the linkage — but only temporarily.. Interrupts cross-device tracking — requires manual action.

🔒
Maximum privacy
GrapheneOS + Proton ecosystem

A complete switch: GrapheneOS as an Android alternative, Proton Mail instead of Gmail, Proton Drive instead of Google Drive eliminates the main data sources.