Manage Google and Gmail Privacy and Security on a Mac in 2026

To manage your Google and Gmail privacy and security on a Mac, open three places in Safari or Chrome: Security Checkup for who can get in, Privacy Checkup for what Google saves, and Gmail's own settings page for smart features and images. Google has no Mac app for any of this, so it all happens in the browser.

The settings are scattered enough that it's hard to tell whether you've missed one, and the word "privacy" gets used for several different switches. This guide goes through each setting, says what it really changes, and gives my own choice. Further down, you'll also find the Mac settings that sit outside Google's reach.

Where Google and Gmail privacy settings live

Google splits these controls between your Google Account, which covers every Google product, and Gmail's settings, which cover only your mail. Sign-in protection on your Google Account covers you however you read your email, including in Apple Mail.

How to run Google's Security Checkup

Google's Security Checkup is a guided review of your account that Google says takes about two minutes. Its October 2026 post on the checkup boils it down to reviewing signed-in devices, removing old third-party app access, and confirming your recovery information.

1. Go to myaccount.google.com/security-checkup in Safari or Chrome and sign in.
2. Work through each section it flags. Google's account security page says the recommendations are personalized, so yours may differ from someone else's.
3. Remove what you no longer use as you go, starting with devices and apps.

Sign out of devices you no longer use

Google's device page puts the full list under Security & sign-in → Your devices → Manage all devices. Select a device, then click Sign out. Several sessions can share one device name, and Google suggests signing out of all of them if you want to be sure.

When I opened that list, a MacBook I'd traded in was still sitting there, signed in as far as the page was concerned. Signing it out took seconds, and now I check the list whenever I change computers.

Check recent activity, in your account and in Gmail

Recent security activity lists sign-ins and security changes across your Google Account, at myaccount.google.com/notifications. Gmail keeps a narrower record of its own: click Details in the lower-right corner of your inbox. Google's last account activity page says that view shows the access type, whether another session is open, and the last 10 IP addresses with approximate locations.

An unfamiliar entry isn't proof of a break-in, since Google notes it may be your own new device, a public computer or an app syncing in the background. If it isn't any of those, change your password first, then check the list under "Gmail settings an intruder would change" below.

Remove apps you stopped using

Third-party access sits on your linked apps page at myaccount.google.com/linkedapps. Google's linked apps steps say to select the app, click See details, then Remove access and Confirm. The app can no longer reach your account, though Google says on its access page that it may keep copies it already made, and you may have to ask the developer to delete them.

Which Google sign-in settings to change first

A passkey or 2-Step Verification matters more than any privacy switch, because someone holding your password can undo every other setting in this guide. Both live under Security & sign-in, in the section called How you sign in to Google.

• 2-Step Verification. Click Turn on and follow the prompts. Google's 2-Step Verification page recommends Google prompts, an alert you approve on your phone, if you don't use a passkey, and warns that codes sent by text or call can be vulnerable to phone number-based hacks.
• A passkey. Your Mac needs macOS Ventura or later, a browser such as Safari 16 or later, and iCloud Keychain turned on, according to Google's passkey page. Create one at myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/passkeys, but not on a shared Mac, since anyone who can unlock that Mac could get into your account.
• Recovery phone and email. Google's recovery page says not to use a Google Voice number, and to pick a recovery address other than the one you sign in with. A change can take up to 7 days to take effect, so update these before you need them.
• Saved passwords. Password Checkup at passwords.google.com looks for compromised, weak and reused passwords that you saved with Google. If you save passwords on your Mac instead, they're in the Passwords app on macOS Sequoia or later.

If an older guide sends you to Google's dark web report, skip that step. Google's notice about the report says it stopped being available on February 16, 2026.

For most people, I think Advanced Protection goes too far. Google's Advanced Protection page aims it at people at high risk of targeted attacks, and it blocks apps that rely on app passwords, the separate passwords some older mail apps use. Which Mac app to read Gmail in, and how to connect Apple Mail without a stored password, is covered in our guide to using Gmail securely on a Mac.

Gmail settings an intruder would change

Someone who gets into a Gmail account can quietly change its settings to keep reading mail after you change your password. Google's hacked account steps list these to review, nearly all reachable through the gear icon and See all settings:

• Accounts and Import: people under Grant access to your account, addresses under Send mail as, and your name as it appears in Gmail.
• Forwarding and POP/IMAP: any automatic forwarding address, plus remote access through IMAP or POP.
• Filters and Blocked Addresses: any filter that forwards or deletes mail, and blocks you didn't add.
• General: the automatic reply, also called the vacation responder.
• Labels, and the Scheduled mailbox in your sidebar: labels you didn't create and scheduled emails you didn't write.

Google's Gmail security tips single out two filter types: one that forwards to an unknown account, and a "Delete it" filter you didn't make. The second is the sneakier of the two, because deleted mail leaves nothing in the inbox to notice.

How to control what Google saves about you

Google's Privacy Checkup is the guided route through what your account saves, and it lives at myaccount.google.com/privacycheckup. Google's privacy help page names three things it covers: Activity Controls, Ad Settings and About You, which decides what other people can see about you across Google services.

Turn off or limit Web & App Activity

Web & App Activity saves your searches and activity on Google products like Search and Maps, along with ads you click, according to Google's activity page. A separate checkbox adds Chrome history and activity from sites and apps that use Google services.

You have two ways to limit it, both under Data & privacy → History settings in your Google Account, per Google's activity deletion page:

• Turn off: select Web & App Activity, then Turn off, or Turn off and delete activity to clear what's there.
• Auto-delete: select the setting, then Auto-delete, choose how long to keep it, then Next and Confirm.

I leave this on with Auto-delete set to the shortest period offered. Search and Maps stay useful, and old history doesn't pile up for years. Turn it off entirely if you'd give up some personalization to have less saved.

Check whether Google saved your voice

Google doesn't save voice recordings to your account unless you opted in. The setting is called Include voice and audio activity, it sits inside Web & App Activity, and Google's audio recordings page says it's off unless you turn it on.

If the box is checked, uncheck it, then deal with the old recordings too, because turning the setting off doesn't delete them. Open Manage activity and look for items with an audio icon. Delete → All time removes all of your Web & App Activity, not only the recordings, so use More → Delete on single items if you want to keep the rest.

I went looking for this one braced for a long list of recordings, and the box had never been checked. It's still worth a look, since you may have checked that box years ago and forgotten.

How to turn off smart features and Gemini in Gmail

Gmail has two separate smart feature switches, both on the General tab under the gear icon and See all settings. Google's smart features page says changing one doesn't change the other, so turning off one and assuming you're finished is an easy mistake.

I turned both off one afternoon to see what I'd miss. The answer arrived with my next trip, when the flight never appeared on my calendar. The Workspace switch went back on the same day, and the Gmail one followed once I missed my categories. Try them one at a time so you can tell which loss bothers you.

Do these switches stop Google training AI on your mail? Google says that isn't happening either way. When reports to the contrary spread in late 2025, a Google spokesperson told The Register "we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model." That's Google's statement, and I can't verify it from the outside.

The Gemini app has its own setting

Chats with the Gemini app follow a different control called Keep Activity. Google's Gemini privacy hub says activity auto-deletes after 18 months by default, with 3 or 36 months available, and that with it on, your activity can be used to train generative AI models. A subset of chats also goes to human reviewers.

Turning Keep Activity off stops future chats from training models unless you send feedback, but some connected apps, including Google Workspace, then stop working in Gemini. Our guide to Gemini connected apps explains that link.

How to stop personalized ads in Gmail

Turning off personalized ads changes which ads you see, not whether you see them. Go to My Ad Center, select Off next to Personalized ads, and confirm. Google's ad help page says your saved topic and brand preferences are deleted, and the change reaches partner sites and apps too.

Personal Gmail accounts still get ads afterward, chosen by things like the time of day or your general location rather than your account history. Google's Gmail ads page says "Gmail does not scan or read your messages to show you ads," and bases them on what you do online under your Google login. Work and school accounts never see ads in Gmail.

How to stop email images from tracking you

An image that loads from a sender's server can tell them you opened the message, and on a Mac the fix depends on where you read your mail. Google says it screens images so senders can't use them to learn your location or computer details, but holding them back until you click is the stricter choice. Change the setting in both places if you use both.

• Gmail in a browser: under See all settings → General → Images, choose Ask before displaying external images, then click Save Changes. To show one message's images, click Display images below, as Google's images page describes.
• Apple Mail: choose Mail → Settings (Command-Comma), click Privacy, and select Protect Mail Activity. Apple's Mail guide says senders then can't see your IP address, and pictures and other remote content are fetched privately as each message lands.

I keep Gmail on the ask-first option. Newsletters look broken until I click, and I can live with that for the mail I read. If pictures stop appearing in Mail after you change this, our fix for Apple Mail images walks through it.

Privacy settings on your Mac that Google can't control

Your Google settings stop at Google's servers, so what your Mac keeps locally is a separate job. Four places matter most:

• Google accounts on the Mac. Under System Settings → Internet Accounts, select an account and click Delete Account to remove it, or turn off one switch such as Mail to keep the rest, as Apple's accounts guide explains.
• Safari history. Choose History → Clear History and pick a time range. Apple's Safari guide notes this clears history on your other Apple devices if iCloud syncs Safari, and doesn't touch records that websites keep themselves, which includes your Google activity.
• Microphone access. Under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, you can turn access off per app. Apple's microphone guide adds that a recording indicator in Control Center shows when the microphone is in use or was used recently.
• Browser extensions. Google's account security page lists removing extensions you don't need among its basic steps, so trim Safari's and Chrome's lists while you're here.

What these settings can't do

No Gmail setting makes your mail unreadable to Google's systems. Gmail processes messages for features and spam detection, and Google's privacy page says data is "encrypted in transit and at rest" and that it accesses private content "only when we have your permission or are required to by law."

Standard Gmail protects mail in transit with TLS, encryption that covers a message as it travels between mail servers, and even that needs both the sender's and recipient's providers to support it, according to Google's encryption page. Its stronger options are limited to work and school accounts. If you want a service built around end-to-end encryption, our Proton Mail vs. Gmail comparison is the place to start.

Two settings to handle before you need them

A couple of settings are easy to postpone, and they only help if you set them up ahead of time.

• Inactive Account Manager. At myaccount.google.com/inactive, you can choose up to 10 people to be told, and optionally given data, if your account goes quiet for a period you set. Google's inactive account page also says it reserves the right to delete accounts inactive for at least two years if no plan is in place.
• A copy of your data. Google Takeout at takeout.google.com exports what you select. The export doesn't delete anything from Google, its archive expires in about 7 days, and it can be downloaded 5 times, so save it somewhere you trust as soon as it's ready.