Google Activity Viewer
Google's My Activity page at myactivity.google.com lets you scroll through recent activity, but it cannot show everything at once and it cannot export. The complete record lives in your Google Takeout export, which contains separate JSON files for Search, YouTube, Chrome, Android, Gmail, and the broader My Activity feed. This page covers four common activity exports, with a sample of what each looks like once parsed into plain English.
Use the table of contents below to jump to a specific activity type, or scroll for the full hub.
View Google search history all time
Google Search Activity is the dedicated record of every query you have typed (or spoken) into Google Search, Google Maps, Google Shopping, and Google Image Search. It is stored separately from your browser history. Even if you clear Chrome history, your Google searches remain in your account-level Search Activity unless you specifically delete them there.
A typical multi-year account contains 50,000+ search queries. The export from Google Takeout ships these as JSON arrays inside MyActivity/Search/MyActivity.json, with one record per query containing the search string, the URL it generated, the timestamp, and a products array. Voice searches and typed searches share the same shape and live in the same file.
To see your complete search history all time, request a Takeout export with My Activity > Search selected, download the ZIP, and drop it onto TakeoutReader. The viewer surfaces total queries, most active months, and search type breakdowns. You do not have to write code or open the JSON file by hand.
Sample data · your real report will look like this
Search Activity
Free previewLocation History
YouTube Activity
Chrome Browsing
Android Activity
Gmail
YouTube watch history viewer
YouTube watch history records every video you have watched while signed into your Google account. It includes embedded YouTube players on third-party sites and YouTube Music streams as separate categories. The data ships in YouTube/history/watch-history.json alongside an HTML twin that Google pre-renders.
Per-record fields are simple: title, titleUrl, time (ISO 8601 string), and a subtitles array identifying the channel that uploaded the video. For YouTube Music sessions, a similar shape with a header field naming the streaming source. Likes, comments, and channel subscriptions are stored in adjacent JSON files inside the same folder.
Common ways people use this export: identifying their most-watched channels by aggregating the subtitles entries, mapping viewing patterns by year, or pinpointing when an account first started watching a particular type of content. The viewer below shows total videos watched and the most active year.
Sample data · your real report will look like this
YouTube Activity
Free previewLocation History
Search Activity
Chrome Browsing
Android Activity
Gmail
Chrome browsing history export reader
Chrome ships browsing history as JSON if Chrome sync is enabled in your browser. The data is stored in Chrome/History.json with one record per page visit. Each record contains the URL, the page title, the time visited (epoch milliseconds), and the page transition (LINK, TYPED, RELOAD, BOOKMARK, etc.) that caused the navigation.
Without sync, Chrome history is local to the device and does not appear in Takeout at all. With sync on, history is replicated across all Chrome instances signed into the same Google account: desktop, laptop, Android, iOS Chrome. The export aggregates them.
A multi-year synced account often contains 80,000+ page visits, dominated by a small number of high-recurrence domains (youtube.com, github.com, stackoverflow.com for developers; news sites and shopping sites for general users). The viewer below surfaces total visits and top domains, both useful for understanding where you actually spend reading time online.
Sample data · your real report will look like this
Chrome Browsing
Free previewLocation History
Search Activity
YouTube Activity
Android Activity
Gmail
Google My Activity export viewer
My Activity at myactivity.google.com is the unified feed of everything Google records about you across products. The Takeout export of My Activity is a per-product set of MyActivity.json files: one for Search, one for YouTube, one for Maps, one for Shopping, and so on. Each file follows the same record shape: header (the product name), title, titleUrl, time, products.
Aggregating across files gives you a per-product activity timeline. Useful for auditing your exposure to a specific Google product, identifying products you forgot you used, or spotting old experiments (Google Allo, Google+, Google Reader exports if you saved them) that still hold data on your account.
The viewer below uses Search Activity as a proxy for the broader My Activity feed since Search is usually the densest single channel. The full report unlocks all six categories side by side so you can compare exposure across products.
Sample data · your real report will look like this
Search Activity
Free previewLocation History
YouTube Activity
Chrome Browsing
Android Activity
Gmail
How to export your full Google activity
The same export flow works for every activity category:
- Go to takeout.google.com and sign in.
- Click Deselect all, then re-select the categories you want: My Activity (Search), YouTube and YouTube Music, Chrome, etc.
- Choose ZIP format and click Create export.
- Download the archive when Google emails the link.
- Drop the ZIP onto TakeoutReader. The viewer detects which categories are present and renders each one separately.
If you just want a focused look at one product, deselect the others to keep the archive small. If you want the full audit, leave everything selected. For a broader exploration of what Google has on you across all its products, see what does Google know about me. For the underlying file format, see our Google Takeout JSON viewer guide. For GPS-only data, see the dedicated Google Location History viewer.
Get your full activity report
All six categories side by side. Free preview. $19 $9 for the full report.
Frequently asked questions
How do I view my Google activity?
The fastest way is to download a Google Takeout export at takeout.google.com, then drop the ZIP onto TakeoutReader. The viewer separates Search Activity, YouTube history, Chrome browsing, Android activity, and Gmail into clean summaries you can scroll through. The myactivity.google.com web interface only shows recent items and cannot export.
What is the difference between My Activity and Google Takeout?
My Activity is the front-end view at myactivity.google.com, useful for browsing recent items and deleting individual entries. Google Takeout is the export pipeline that gives you the complete underlying data as JSON files in a ZIP. Takeout is the only path to see all of your activity at once or to export it.
Can I download my YouTube watch history?
Yes, via Google Takeout. Select YouTube and YouTube Music, choose ZIP format, and create the export. Google emails you a download link, usually within an hour. The archive contains watch-history.json with one record per video watched while signed in.
Does Chrome history sync to Google?
Only if Chrome sync is enabled in your browser settings. With sync on, your browsing history is replicated across signed-in devices and included in Takeout exports. Without sync, Chrome history stays local to the device and does not appear in Takeout.
How long does Google keep my activity?
Auto-delete at 18 months has been the default since June 2020 for Web & App Activity, YouTube History, and Location History. Older accounts that opted out, or that pre-date the default, can have records going back a decade or more. Reading your export shows what is actually stored regardless of policy.
Can I see my Google search history all time?
Yes. Run a Takeout export with My Activity > Search selected. The export contains every query you have made across Google Search, Maps, Shopping, and Image Search since your account was created (subject to retention settings). Drop the ZIP onto TakeoutReader to see totals and patterns.
Read your full Google activity
Search, YouTube, Chrome, My Activity, all in one report. Free preview in 60 seconds. The full report unlocks for $19 $9 one-time. No subscription. No account.
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