Google has been tracking your location history in Google Maps, storing that data in its cloud. A year ago, I reported that this is coming to an end. “Location History can give you more personalized experiences across Google, such as place recommendations, based on where you’ve been,” the company tells users. But tracking is tracking.
And so in a change to what’s now called Timeline, Google confirmed “your Timeline will be saved right on your device — giving you even more control over your data.” And that means deleting all that Timeline data from its cloud, ensuring that it only exists on your phone — that’s a good, welcome move.
There is some confusion though. Originally, it seemed that this change would kick in on December 1, but then Google confirmed it would happen gradually. Some reports have selected specific dates as to when the delete button will be hit. That’s not the case, albeit many will have the same date. But it’s an easy assumption to make, given the gradual rollout is not mentioned in the notifications sent out.
It does seem that May 18 has been selected as a date for many users, even though Google clarified “this update is rolling out gradually… people will see different deletion deadlines, approximately six months from when they were first notified about this change to their account.” That means 180-days before your cloud data is deleted. But this clarification has been widely and understandably missed.
You can check your own date by going to your account settings in Google Maps, then tapping Timeline. You can select how long you want to save Timeline data. Either 18 months or until you choose to delete it. That moves data to your phone and triggers the cloud deletion. If you don’t pick an option, all your data will delete on the date shown.
This update has been complicated by some accidental data deletions along the way. But it’s a good move — you don’t want this data being stored in anyone’s cloud, it’s the type of sensitive information you want solely within the encrypted enclave on your device. There’s no need to wait until the date. Make the change now.
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