At a time when each search, scroll, and click on provides to an ever-growing path of private knowledge, ideas about going offline completely usually cross the thoughts. Lately, an X consumer confirmed how it’s doable to start out over on-line.
The favored AI and tech account, Patrick’s AIBuzzNews, lately shared a viral thread named “I deleted my total digital footprint. You’ll be able to too. Right here’s how I did it.” Up to now, the submit has been considered over 700,000 instances, and it basically breaks down the method of how one can erase their on-line presence in easy steps.
I deleted my total digital footprint.
You’ll be able to too.
Right here’s how I did it:
— Patrick’s AIBuzzNews (@AIBuzzNews) October 24, 2025
Here’s a listing of steps concerned in safely going offline.
Erase your traces
The submit begins with a very powerful step, which is clearing your Google exercise. The OP asks customers to go to myactivity.google.com and check in to their Google account. As soon as signed in, they’ll discover each motion that they’ve ever taken throughout Google providers, from Maps searches to YouTube movies and picture searches.
To take away this knowledge, you’ll have to click on the ‘Delete exercise by’ choice on the highest left nook. It will open a field named ‘Delete Exercise’ with choices comparable to ‘Final Hour’, ‘Final Day’, ‘All Time’, and ‘Customized Vary’. Clicking on ‘All Time’ will reveal the listing of purposes or Google merchandise used, and customers can tick the suitable app and proceed. Equally, within the Customized Vary, a consumer can choose particular dates of the interval for which they need to clear exercise. Customers may filter by Google merchandise comparable to Maps, Search, or YouTube earlier than confirming deletion. Bear in mind, that is the inspiration to erasing your digital traces throughout gadgets.
My Google Exercise web page provides you a glimpse of your on-line exercise.
Go invisible
The X consumer shared that to actually disappear, you would want to disable their searching and search historical past from being saved. To do that, head to the Exercise Management part within the prime left, and switch off Internet and App Exercise, Location Historical past, and YouTube Historical past. This could stop Google from monitoring a consumer’s future actions, basically holding the invisible in its ecosystem.
Information and Privateness part means that you can have higher management.
Patrick has described this as simply ‘one choice away’, nevertheless it’s a strong one. In accordance with the thread, as soon as off, Google stops monitoring the place a consumer goes, what they search, and what they watch.
Keep non-public
Now that you’ve cleared previous knowledge, you need to successfully stop new knowledge from being collected. The AI influencer recommends disabling exercise monitoring altogether. To do that, head to Google Account settings after which Information & Privateness, and toggle off all exercise monitoring choices. It will be sure that your internet and app utilization, location knowledge, and YouTube historical past will not be logged within the background.
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Automate privateness
If you happen to marvel in the event you’d must repeat these steps each few months, don’t worry; you’ll be able to simply arrange auto-deletion.
Go to myactivity.google.com/auto-delete, and choose from Internet & App Exercise, Timeline, and YouTube Historical past. As soon as you choose the class, search for the Auto-delete choice that may permit you to select to robotically delete exercise older than three, 18, or 36 months. This function will hold your account repeatedly clear with out manually repeating all of the steps. In accordance with Patrick, that is what is called ‘automating privateness’.
Automate privateness.
Schedule auto deletion.
Safe your connection
In accordance with Patrick, a clear account means nothing except your connection is non-public. He recommends a mixture of a digital non-public community (VPN) with a privacy-focused browser or search engine.
Together with a VPN, one can use privacy-first engines like google like DuckDuckGo, Courageous Search or Startpage. In terms of privacy-focused browsers, DuckDuckGo, Tor Browser, and Firefox (with privateness settings enabled).
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Together with these measures, it’s clever to vary passwords each three to 6 months. Whereas this appears primary, it’s a essential defence in opposition to hackers.
Bear in mind, deleting your digital footprint is just not merely simply going off the grid; it has extra to do with reclaiming management. Whereas deleting years of information may be liberating, the true problem is staying non-public afterward.