Google introduces account level Enhanced Safe Browsing, expands Assistant Guest Mode, more

As a part of this year’s Safer Internet Day 2022, Google has announced several updates to its privacy and security efforts across the board. Since last year when it auto-enrolled 150 million Google Account users into 2SV, or two-step verification, the company has seen a 50% decrease in compromised accounts! By the way, if you’ve yet to take a Security Checkup since the near year began, you should do so now to keep everything safe and tidy!

From cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity, each year Safer Internet Day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns.

Safer Internet Day

This year, Google’s efforts to create a safer internet include introducing Account Level Enhanced Safe Browsing so you can opt into its extra layer of protection that provides the broadest security against threats you may encounter on the web and against your Google Account. This will be rolling out over the next month, and you can turn it on when you take the aforementioned Security Checkup after it becomes available.

Additionally, Google Assistant’s “Guest Mode” – a feature baked into Assistant-enabled smart display which allows you to issue voice commands and receive information without it saving your data (You can’t get personal results for this reason!) – will be expanding to include 9 more languages over the next few months. At this time, it has not made known which additional languages will be included, but we’ll keep you posted.

Lastly, Google One’s VPN is rolling out to iOS users who have a subscription to the 2TB or higher plan, and Google Fi will soon gain the ability to share your location in real-time with your Family Group members either on a continual basis or for a set amount of time so that you and your family can make a plan to locate one another in the midst of potential disasters or emergencies.