You've got more time the great Google Maps Timeline switch gets a new deadline date

Date:
Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:46:19 +0000

Description:
Google is implementing a rather confusing change to the way it tracks the places you've been to.

FULL STORY ======================================================================The great Google Maps Timeline switch deadline has been extended It keeps
Timeline data exclusively on your smartphone Google gives you control over
how long your data is saved for

Earlier this year Google announced that its Google Maps Timeline feature which tracks where you go, over time would be only available on phones in
the future, with the web portal scheduled to be shut down near the end of 2024. Now it seems you've got a bit longer to switch over, if you want to
keep your data.

As spotted by 9to5Google , Android Police , and others, a significant number of users are getting emails and on-screen alerts mentioning a deadline of
June 9, 2025. If you want to keep the Timeline data you've got stored in the cloud after that date, you need to move it to your Android or iOS phone
before the deadline.

However, that revised date may not be the same for everyone: on my phone, I'm getting a message that sets a deadline of April 6, 2025. Previously, Google has said that users get "approximately six months" from their first notification about this to move over, so it may depend on if you've already been warned.

To be sure, load up Google Maps on your phone, tap your account picture (top right), then choose Your Timeline. If you do want to keep your data on your phone going forward, you'll be taken step-by-step through the process. At the same time, you can select how long Timeline data is saved for. What's going on? Look out for an alert like this on your phone (Image credit: Future)

For years, Google has offered an optional Location History feature that
tracks your comings and goings via your phone. The Timeline available via
the Google Maps apps and website has been the user-facing part of Location History, letting you go back in time to see visited places and trips taken
for any specific day, week, or month.

While some users are understandably reticent to let Google keep that much information, Timeline appears to be pretty popular: people use it to relive vacations and road trips, find that coffee shop they really liked that they visited two years ago, and to make sure their travel expenses are in order, for example.

The changes now underway mean Timeline data won't be stored in the cloud or available on the web any more it'll just be on your phone. Google hasn't
said too much about the reasons why, but presumably privacy and data security are the main ones. In addition, Location History (including settings for deleting older data) is fully folding into Timeline.

While encrypted backups will still enable users to move Timeline data between devices in the future (for new phone upgrades, for example), the shift will
be inconvenient for those who liked to explore their travel history through Google Maps on the web, or who had several different devices contributing to it. You might also like Look out for an AI-boosted Google Maps upgrade Google picks the best Chrome extensions of 2024 AI could be about to transform
Google Search



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/youve-got-more-time-the-great-google-maps-tim eline-switch-gets-a-new-deadline-date


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