How To Stop Google Maps From Displaying Your Home To Strangers
Source: CNet, Nelson Aguilar
Photo: You can completely obscure your home from Google Maps’ view if you’re uncomfortable with it there. (Google Maps)
A straightforward privacy request to Google can remove your home from Street View entirely. Here’s the step-by-step process.
Type almost any residential address into Google Maps, switch to Street View and you’ll find a high-resolution photograph of the front of the property – the door, the windows, the cars in the driveway, the layout of the yard. For most homeowners, that level of detail being publicly accessible to anyone with an internet connection is a privacy concern that doesn’t get discussed nearly as much as it should. Google does offer a way to blur your property out of Street View entirely, the request is free, and once it’s approved the blur is permanent. Here’s how to submit one.
The good news is that you don’t have to just accept this exposure as a fact of life. You can actually force Google to censor your home, permanently blurring it out to protect your privacy from prying eyes. It’s a simple way to take back control of your home’s online footprint and ensure that your driveway and windows aren’t part of a global database.
Here’s how to reduce how much of your home is visible online.
How to blur your home on Google Maps
You’ll need to do this on your computer since the blurring feature isn’t available in the Google Maps application on iOS or Android. It is accessible through the web browser on your mobile device, but it’s rather difficult to use, so your best option is a trusted web browser on your Mac or PC.
At maps.google.com, enter your home address in the search bar at the top-right, hit return, then click the photo of your home that appears.
Next, you’ll see the Street View of your location. Click Report a Problem at the bottom-right. The text is super tiny, but it’s there.
Now, it’s up to you to choose what you want Google to blur. Using your mouse, adjust the view of the image so that your home and anything else you want to blur are all contained within the red and black box. Use your cursor to move around and the plus and minus buttons to zoom in and out, respectively.
Once you’re finished adjusting the image, choose what you’re requesting to blur underneath:
A face
Your home
Car/license plate
A different object
You’ll be asked to provide a bit more detail about what you want blurred in case the image is busy with cars, people and other objects.
Also, be completely sure that what you select is exactly what you want blurred. Google cautions that once you blur something on Street View, it’s blurred permanently.
Finally, enter your email (this is required), verify the captcha (if needed), and click Submit.
You should then receive an email from Google that says it’ll review your report and get back to you once the request is either denied or approved. You may receive more emails from Google asking for more information regarding your request. Google doesn’t offer any information on how long your request will take to process, so just keep an eye out for any further emails.
For more, take an inside look at how Google built Immersive View for Maps.
Nelson Aguilar
With more than a decade of experience, Nelson covers Apple and Google and writes about iPhone and Android features, privacy and security settings, and more.