When you’re jumping between the many different apps Google offers—Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, YouTube, and all the rest—you may not be giving much thought to the Google account that underpins them all or to the myriad settings you can access that help to define your experience across all these apps.
If you’ve never opened up your Google account page on the web or on your phone, there are a host of options to browse through there. They cover everything from data security and browsing history to the backup email Google needs in case you ever get locked out of your account.
Here we’re going to focus on seven of the lesser-known settings: the ones that don’t necessarily get a lot of attention but which are still an important part of how your account and your Google apps operate. It’s worth spending a few minutes to review these and to make sure they’re set up in the way you’d like.
Also pause to consider how much personal information you want to share with Google, or how much of your information you’re making visible on the web. Let your own level of comfort guide your decisions on how you tweak these settings.
The starting point for all these settings is your Google account page on the web.
Set Your Home and Work Addresses
Google will use the information about where you live and work to personalize your experience. This is most useful in Google Maps, because it means you can get directions back home or to your office with a single tap rather than typing in the address each time. (You should see Home and Work shortcuts appear whenever you search for a destination.)
There are benefits for getting more accurate weather forecasts and more relevant search results too. The usual Google privacy policy rules apply: No one else will see the address information you’ve saved, but you might start seeing more ads for sandwich shops in your local area.
To set these addresses from your Google account page, click Personal info and then either Home address or Work address. You can either type out the address manually, or select a location on a map.
Edit Your Google Profile Information
Settings for your Google Profile Information
Courtesy of David Nield
You may not think about your Google account in the same way as a Facebook or Instagram profile, but Google does share bits of information about you with other people. If you send someone an email through Gmail, they can click on your profile photo and see whatever’s public on your Google account page. Similarly, if you leave a review on Google Maps, the viewers of that review can tap on your name or picture and see any public information on your Google account page.
