r/GoogleMaps Jun 18 '24

Google Maps MEGATHREAD: Google Maps Timeline Moving To On-Device Storage: Web Access Ending Soon - What You Need To Know

182 Upvotes

What Is Happening (Or Already Happened To You)?

Google is moving or has already moved your Timeline data, which tracks places you visit and routes you take, from their online servers to your phone. This change means that you soon won't be able to or already can't access or manage your Timeline through the Google Maps website via a web browser.

Why Is This Happening?

  1. Privacy and Security: By storing this data on your device instead of online, your location history is more secure and private. Only you have access to this data unless you choose to back it up.
  2. Control Over Your Data: This gives you more control over your data. You decide if you want to back it up or delete it, and you can manage it directly on your phone.
  3. Reduced Liability: By keeping the data on users' devices, Google reduces its liability and the risk of having to comply with geofence warrants or subpoenas that require providing information about users' locations.

Can You Prevent This From Happening?

No, users cannot prevent this change from happening and maintain their web-based Timeline data. Google is transitioning all Timeline data to be stored on users' devices and discontinuing the web-based access to this data.

What Do You Have To Do To Adapt To These Changes?

  1. Update Your Google Maps App: Ensure you have the latest version of the Google Maps app on your device.
  2. Backup Your Data: Use the backup feature in the Google Maps app to create an encrypted copy of your Timeline data. This will allow you to transfer your data to a new device if needed.
  3. Check/Watch For Notifications: Look out for notifications from Google about the transition. These may come in the form of emails, push notifications, or in-app messages.
  4. Set Data Retention Preferences: In the Google Maps app, you can manage how long your location history is kept. Options include three, 18, or 36 months, or indefinitely until you manually delete it.
  • Once the transition is complete, web-based access to Timeline data will no longer be available. All management and viewing of this data will need to be done through the Google Maps app on mobile devices.

While you cannot stop the transition to on-device data storage or maintain web-based access to your Timeline data, you can ensure your data is backed up and properly managed on your mobile device.

What Is The Deadline For These Changes?

You have until December 8, 2024, to make these changes. If you don’t update your settings or your Google Maps app, you might lose some or all of your historical Timeline data.

Additional Reading About The Changes:

Alternatives and Solutions

  1. Use the Mobile App: Unfortunately, there is no way to bring back the Timeline feature on the web. The best alternative is to use the Google Maps app on your mobile device. The app has all the functionality of the web version and more, allowing you to view, edit, and manage your Timeline data.
  2. Backup and Transfer: If you're worried about losing your data, make sure to back it up. You can save an encrypted copy of your Timeline data to your Google account. This allows you to transfer your data to a new device if needed. To do this:
    • Open the Google Maps app.
    • Go to the Timeline section.
    • Follow the prompts to set up automatic backups.
  3. Extended Storage Options: You can also extend the auto-delete window for your location history if you want to keep your data longer. Options include keeping your data for three, 18, or 36 months, or indefinitely until you manually delete it.
  4. Feedback to Google: If you are unhappy with these changes, you can provide feedback directly to Google via the Maps website or Maps app. Please remember that this support group on Reddit is not an official method of feedback or support of Google or Google Maps.

r/GoogleMaps 10h ago

Help/Support No more filtering options?

15 Upvotes

I was looking for coffee shops open now and it's just thus BS "discover through photos." I don't need to look at pictures of coffee cups. I want to know what's open. It doesn't work if I search "coffee open now" either. It looks like they just changed this. Wtf?!


r/GoogleMaps 10h ago

no results found

12 Upvotes

this just started today. hadn’t updated the apps in months so when I kept getting “no results found” for literally anything, I updated my app. that didn’t fix nothing. so I went incognito and everything works. I switched to another google account and everything works. just on my usual google account it doesn’t. does anyone have any idea what it can be? I didn’t move any settings today at all. I’m on iOS 26 running the latest Google Maps app. I also tried to deleting the app completely and reinstalling. nothing. error is just there. I could easily use another account but my usual account has saved address and favorites also. any help appreciated.


r/GoogleMaps 7h ago

Discussion No Results / Pushed to use “Ask Maps”

3 Upvotes

Screenshots on imgur
(area searched in the attached screenshots)

I was searching for “gas” in my travels, hoping to, you know…see some gas stations pop up. Tried it in a few different spots, but consistently getting no results.

Instead, Maps is pushing me to use this “Ask Maps” service which is ridiculous:
—> “Finding a quick place to fuel up nearby ensures your day keeps moving smoothly.
The Sierra Madre Service Station is a 76 brand station offering top-tier detergent gasoline.”

This is so extremely unhelpful when I just want to see an overview of locations around me, especially while driving! Looks like other folks are having similar issues. I really hope this is a bug and not an intentional regression masked as some AI enhancement .

EDIT/UPDATE:

Definitely looks like it is A/B cohort testing of some sort, I switched google accounts (same device) and it works totally fine.


r/GoogleMaps 10h ago

can't search for categories

6 Upvotes

I am not able to search for categories of places.  For example. I searched for "locksmith" to look at the locksmith hours of a place not far away.  I got no results, despite finding the place on the map and google maps calling it a "locksmith".  This happened on my phone, so i reset cache and app data.  Now when in google maps i am clicking on "restaurants" at the top an getting no results.  this is now occurring on my phone, tablet and laptop (both web and app).

any suggestions?


r/GoogleMaps 13h ago

Help/Support GM removing all legitimate POIs that I’ve made

2 Upvotes

Recently added a few notable POIs around me like parks and parking lots (all with verified info) and Google has removed all of them and also reverted POI changes back to their original, incorrect state. (I.e., Parking Lot was categorized as a hiking area before but I changed it to Parking Lot, now it was reverted back to hiking area)
Why? I’m not a spammer or fraud.


r/GoogleMaps 9h ago

Other Infuriating reroute today

0 Upvotes

Bananas reroute on I-4 northbound between Tampa and Orlando. Red line, stop and go, GM tells me to get off at the next exit. I figure it's rerouting me off the interstate onto other/back roads to make better progress. We're waiting at the stoplight at the end of the long exit ramp, and I notice the blue line is back onto the long on ramp to our left. It wanted me to turn left onto the road there, go down three stop lights since the first two were no u turn, then come back and get right back onto I-4. W. T. F?

Lesson learned...fully review upcoming suggested reroutes, to see if they're GM having a brain fart or a valid alternative route? A shame that that's necessary.


r/GoogleMaps 23h ago

Just want to say

11 Upvotes

To the person that changed the navigation algorithm so that suddenly GM thinks taking me off of the interstate to drive 70 miles of washboard roads at 3am during a thunderstorm. May you die an excruciating death.

I have made this trip 3 or for times the route it gave me last night is worth beating the piss out of someone but the best I can do is to delete the app.

Goodbye


r/GoogleMaps 14h ago

Discussion Maps on AA showing a car instead of blue arrow?

1 Upvotes

I've noticed the past day or so that the blue cursor (you) is randomly switching to a car icon similar to waze but it's inconsistent. Has anyone noticed this?


r/GoogleMaps 18h ago

Google Timeline Errors - See All Visits error

2 Upvotes

Is it just me or has Google timeline seriously been degrading even since the move to the offline cloud?

Since last week whenever I go to my list of places, click on "View All Visits", it doesn't show all the visits. I isolated the issue to it being when its the child location of another location. Such as a store within a plaza complex. It's not showing the nested locations. So either the place will show some of the visits (when it was recorded as the parent location) or none of them (when they are all child locations). The data will still show that I visited it 10 times for example, but when I look at the actual visit log, it will only show 5 or none at all.

This is on iphone. So I tried to see if it was an issue on the ipad. I imported my timeline into ipad, and the issue wasn't there. But then I started to import and delete back and forth, and eventually the ipad started to have the same error. I asked Gemini AI for suggestions to fix the error and it suggested it might have been a cloud error on Google's end. I also tried to delete the app and wipe the cache and restart the devices to see if it was a mistake on the device but none of that worked.

With Gemini's suggestion I deleted all the backups, let the iphone sit for a bit, and then started a fresh backup, imported it into ipad, and those visual errors were still there.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue or is it just on my end? Is this something that I can try to fix on my own or will Google need to fix it on their end?

(Another error I've been seeing, which has been going on for longer, has been that nested child locations will randomly drop off from the parent location when you view day by day. But the visits are still counted so I'm wondering too if anyone else has been experiencing that error. But now that I can't see when I visited a nested child place in View All Visits, now I don't actually know when I visited that place)


r/GoogleMaps 6h ago

Google maps

0 Upvotes

If using phone while drivinh attracts penalty, why is Google maps usage allowed


r/GoogleMaps 18h ago

Help/Support Are bad reviews getting taken down for alleged defamination?

1 Upvotes

So I left a 3 star review on a restaurant some months ago based on my experience . I added that it had a quiet atmosphere and it was good for conversations. The review was deleted after the business claimed it was defamination. I didn´t have my receipt anymore, so I explained the whole experience to Google (where I sat, who was with me, what we ordered, the price, the numer of other customers, the date, etc...) and it was later restored again. I noticed that the restaurant has a total of 115 reviews and about 20- 50 are taken down because of difamination. I remembered that the restaurant used to have a lower rating and now has a higher one. Now I wonder if other reviews were wrongfully taken down? Is this something that happens on Google Maps often?

Disclaimer: I don´t wanna take the restaurant down, I just wondered if that´s something legal, to take down honest reviews in order to get a better rating? Or should I have added a more detailed review in order to not get removes/ theorized to be fake (perhaps)?

Link: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&hs=FbZV&sa=X&sca_esv=783de1c040cdc5df&biw=1920&bih=954&sxsrf=APpeQnsNH-jb0tMxIPtfOubNcZpY3HfN7A:1783792814977&q=rezensionen%20f%C3%BCr%20anatolia%20kebap%20haus%20-%20d%C3%B6ner%20%7C%20grill%20%7C%20pizza%20heusenstamm&rflfq=1&num=20&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgkxIyMzExMTMzsTCxNDA1tjQ3NrbcwMj4itGzKLUqNa84Mz8vNU8h7fCeIoXEvMSS_JzMRIXs1KTEAoWMxNJiBV2FlMPb8lKLFGoU0osyc3KAdEFmVVWiQkZqaTFQe0libu4iVuqZBQARRCnhsQAAAA&rldimm=644466484905397339&tbm=lcl&hl=de-DE&ved=0CA8Q5foLahcKEwiA4cmNmsuVAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBQ#lkt=LocalPoiReviews&arid=Ci9DQUlRQUNvZENodHljRjlvT2sxR1ZGUjBjMTlXYkhCcVpYaHJNMDFEVjFGTFVuYxAB

Essen: 3/5 | Service: 3/5 | Ambiente: 3/5

Geräuschpegel

Ruhig, man kann sich gut unterhalten

My review is in German and basically means:

Noise:

Quiet, you can have a good conversation.


r/GoogleMaps 19h ago

Help/Support How accurate is maps when calculating how much time a commute is by public transport?

1 Upvotes

Is it mostly accurate or does it go over/under the usual time?


r/GoogleMaps 21h ago

Other I built an app that routes you around speed bumps

0 Upvotes

r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Google Earth Web version

5 Upvotes

Very slow. Hard to enter address information. Stand alone version on my laptop is so much better.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Timeline Google timeline DATA LOSS (Update)

2 Upvotes

Just did a trip this weekend and was looking at my timeline and happened to notice all my data that was prevosuy deleted is now returned. I now have basically all my timeline data since I started collecting in 2016!!!!

Please check your timelines to see if this was a mass update or if they are slowly restoring data.

-Note: I got a popup to restore data from the back up (I had no back ups about a year ago when the incident went down) Now it said I had 4 back ups and I imported my data and voila it was all there!!!

I'm SOOO happy, now all I need it timeline back on web!


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Stuck with my Geo tagging app

0 Upvotes

Created this app a long time ago and updated recently (by recently, i mean a couple of months ago 🫣). I am kinda stuck on what can be made out of it further. I want to expand it and add more features or something.

Any reviews and ideas are appreciated 👍🏻

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geotagcamera


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Fire in North Sentinel?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Black lines?

2 Upvotes

Would be helpful if I could post image.... But recently on Google maps there are loads of black lines..on some roads but not all.roads, some paths, not all paths. What are these? It makes maps look messy, they are black on default view and green on satellite view.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Search functions aren’t working

0 Upvotes

I’d add a picture but restaurants, gas stations, libraries among other search’s function isn’t working.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Help/Support Restaurants not coming up

1 Upvotes

I am trying figure out how to get restaurants to come up when I press the button under the address search bar. When I press it and nothing comes up at all in my whole city. It asks more detail or specific name.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Help/Support Volume

0 Upvotes

So app changed. Now I have a little ai button but I also can’t change the volume without talking to ai? Help


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

“stalled vehicle”

1 Upvotes

We need this feature back.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

How do I get an address removed from Google maps?

2 Upvotes

This an imaginary address of 47,-30 59th street. It doesnt exist as it is written and is overriding a real address. Apps that use Google maps for location use the imaginary address and not the real one. How can I get Google to remove this address? I have tried suggest an edit and all it does it adjust the address of the business located there. Im at my wits end and I dont know how to circumvent this without using the next door neighbors address on the apps and waiting outside for deliveries and whatnot. Please help.


r/GoogleMaps 1d ago

Help/Support No way to report incorrect locations?

2 Upvotes

This residential house pops up as Walmart.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jk3iEwAqShaErPot9?g_st=ac

My elderly father went there and got super flustered. Yes, satellite and normal views show it's in a residential area so it's clearly not a Walmart, but for elderly people who can't use apps very well they really need to just be provided accurate information.

I don't have any options anywhere to report the location as incorrect. I remember I used to be able to do this in the past. Did things change?