How to View and Manage Your Google Maps Location History

If you use Google Maps on your Android or iPhone, there is a good chance the app has been quietly recording everywhere you go — every restaurant, doctor's office, store, and park. This feature is called Timeline, and it stores a detailed log of your movements tied to your Google account.

Many people find Timeline genuinely useful. It can remind you of a great restaurant you visited two years ago and cannot quite remember the name of. It can help you reconstruct a timeline for tax purposes (business travel, medical appointments). If you enjoy looking back at trips, Timeline shows you the routes you took with maps.

To access Timeline, open Google Maps on your phone and tap your profile photo in the top-right corner. Tap "Your Timeline." You will see a calendar view with days highlighted — tap any date to see where the app logged you that day. You can also see monthly and yearly views, and a "Places" tab showing all locations you have visited.

If you were not aware Timeline was recording, or if you want to take control of the data, Google offers several options. To pause Timeline from collecting new data, go to your Google Account (myaccount.google.com), tap "Data and Privacy," then "Timeline." Toggle Location History to off. Or within Google Maps, go to your profile > Settings > Personal content > Timeline settings.

To delete specific data, open Timeline, find the day or place you want to remove, and tap the three dots to delete that entry. To delete all Timeline data, go to Timeline settings and choose "Delete all Timeline data."

Auto-delete settings let you choose how long Google keeps your data: you can set it to automatically delete after 3 months or 18 months, or keep it until you manually delete it.

It is worth knowing that Google stores this data in your account and says it does not sell individual location history. However, it has been used in some criminal investigations via court orders, and it is data you have a right to delete or disable if you choose.