Google introduced new features for its search app in a move to increase its safety and privacy credentials in light of ongoing pressure over its practices to access user data.

JK Kearns, group product manager, announced a new setting allows users to delete the last 15 minutes of their history in the Google Search app on iOS, with the option coming to the Android version before the year-end.

Another tool adds “extra protection” for those who share a device by asking for additional verification, such as a user’s password or two-factor authentication, before accessing the full search history of a Google account.

Kearns reminded users of the possibility to completely disable activity tracking or set a function for automatic removal of their search behaviour in Google.

The executive also highlighted its encryption method used for the Google Search app, “so hackers and other malicious third parties can’t see what you’re searching for”, adding the company “never sells the information about what you searched for to third parties”.

Google’s practices related to the handling of user data led to a lawsuit in the US seeking at least $5 billion for alleged illegal collection of information from users surfing the internet privately through the company’s browser, a claim the company “vigorously” defended earlier this year.