Google Maps is erasing your comprehensive Location History. Learn these steps to preserve it.
Google Maps is erasing your comprehensive Location History. Learn these steps to preserve it.
navigating the digital landscape, the most renowned app in existence, Google Maps, boasts an innovative Timeline feature. This attribute saves your travel itineraries and visits, allowing you to traverse through time and revisit the places you've ventured to before. As per communications dispatched to users by Google themselves, it seems they're scrubbing data older than a modest three-month span (per Android Authority). For those keen on safeguarding their location chronicles, the messages also include guidance on securing this data.
Android Authority reported that beginning in December 2023, Google began filing user location histories locally on devices rather than in the cloud. However, the emails hint that this practice may soon be phased out. Some emails mention a deadline of November 19, while others allude to December 1. The ambiguity here necessitates prompt action.
A representative from Google contacted Gizmodo to shed light on this update, explaining that the implementation is gradual. This means users will encounter varying deletion deadlines, approximately six months after initially being informed of this change to their account.
To forestall Google from expunging your prior locations, click on the hyperlink embedded within the email and adhere to the directions. This link transports you to a page permitting you to opt between preserving your data until you delete it manually or scheduling its deletion after a three-month stint. The three-month option is part of a dropdown menu, implying additional tenure choices may be available. But there's a glaring stumble here, too.
The inconvenience, more akin to a massive fumble on Google's part, is that some end-users assert selecting the first option (preserving the data until deletion) and still enduring data loss. This is a serious blunder, especially given the sudden warning to millions of users concerning the annihilation of their past travel logs. Google contacted Gizmodo to affirm they hadn't verified any instance where the settings didn't function as intended; they also advocated meticulously checking your setup before selecting it to ensure you're maintaining the desired data volume.
Android Authority recommends securing a backup of your location chronicles via Google Takeout to dodge such mishaps. This is accomplished by selecting only "Location History (Timeline)" and maintaining the rest unchecked. Once you possess a backup, you may then comply with the instructions in the email.
Unfortunately, two further modifications are materializing as part of regrettable side effects. First, you will no longer have access to Timeline on the web, and second, your Timeline will now be device-specific. If you sign in to a device, your location history will exhibit for that device exclusively instead of the Google account you're logged in to.
The abrupt implementation of such changes in a stressful manner and the opaque instructions, such as multiple deadlines, have only exacerbated the situation. Inevitably, adhering to Google's guidance and still finding your cherished history deleted fails to strengthen their case.
This narrative was updated on 11/15/2024 at 1:45 PM ET with clarifications from Google regarding the distinct deletion deadlines and the unintentional deletion of users’ data.
In the future, tech companies might need to be moreclear and transparent when making changes to user data policies, as the sudden deletion of location history data from Google Maps Timeline has caused confusion and frustration among users. To ensure that your Google Maps Timeline data is not deleted, you can use Google Takeout to create a backup.
As technology advances, there is an increasing focus on data privacy and security, and companies like Google will need to adapt to these changing expectations. In order to effectively navigate the digital landscape, it is essential for users to stay informed about these policy changes and take proactive steps to protect their data.