Google has introduced plans to retailer Maps Timeline knowledge domestically on customers’ units as a substitute of their Google account efficient December 1, 2024.
The adjustments had been initially introduced by the tech big in December 2023, alongside adjustments to the auto-delete management when enabling Location Historical past by setting it to a few months by default, down from the earlier restrict of 18 months.
Google Maps Timeline, because the identify implies, helps customers observe routes, journeys, and locations they’ve been to over time, assuming Location Historical past and Net & App Exercise settings are enabled.
However with the most recent change to host the information on customers’ units, the corporate has additionally stated that it is eradicating the power to view them on the internet.
“Since the data shown on your Timeline comes directly from your device, Timeline won’t be available on Maps on your computer after your data is moved to your phone,” Google famous in a help doc.
The updates, it added, are regularly rolling out to all customers of the Google Maps app. Customers are additionally being requested to activate backups to avoid wasting an encrypted copy of the Timeline knowledge on Google’s servers to facilitate switch when switching units.
The event is a part of a collection of adjustments the corporate has enacted in response to allegations that the corporate misled customers and illegally tracked their actions regardless of turning off Location Historical past from the account settings by making the most of the non-obvious Net & App Exercise setting.
“Leaving ‘Web & App Activity’ on and turning ‘Location History’ off only prevents Google from adding your movements to the ‘timeline,’ its visualization of your daily travels,” an Related Press investigation revealed in 2018. “It does not stop Google’s collection of other location markers.”
Google has since settled with a number of states within the U.S. over this follow, with the corporate additionally opting to pay $62 million to quite a few non-profits in April 2024. A related lawsuit filed within the state of Texas is pending.
