Google is preparing to retire its Dark Web Report feature, with a full shutdown scheduled for February 16, 2026. The tool, introduced about a year and a half ago, was designed to help people monitor whether their personal information had appeared on the dark web after data breaches.
For many users, Dark Web Report sounded like exactly the kind of protection they wanted. It could scan breach dumps and notify you if details tied to your identity showed up in compromised databases. Depending on what was exposed, those alerts could include items like your email address, name, phone number, or even a Social Security number. In theory, the feature offered peace of mind by keeping watch for signs your data had leaked.
In practice, Google says user feedback highlighted a major problem: the feature often didn’t provide clear next steps. Even when someone received an alert, it wasn’t always obvious what to do beyond basic advice like changing a password. Users also expressed frustration that it didn’t clearly identify which accounts or sites were impacted, leaving people unsure where to focus their efforts to reduce identity theft risk.
Google says it’s making the change so it can focus on tools that offer more direct, actionable ways to protect personal information online. The company also emphasized that it will continue tracking and defending against online threats, including dark web-related risks, while building protections that better help users respond.
As Dark Web Report goes away, Google is pointing users to other security features that remain available. These include Security Checkup, which reviews the security status of your Google account; Google’s built-in Password Manager, which can generate and store strong, unique passwords; and Password Checkup, which can alert you if saved passwords are found in known compromised datasets.
There are two key dates to keep in mind if you currently use Dark Web Report. Scanning for new dark web breach matches will stop on January 16, 2026. The feature will then be officially discontinued on February 16, 2026, and Google says all related data will be deleted from its servers.
If you’d rather remove your information before the deadlines, you can delete your monitoring profile through Google’s “Results with your info” area. From there, choose “Edit monitoring profile,” then select “Delete monitoring profile” at the bottom to remove the profile manually.
