How to see your Google location history in Google Maps, and delete or turn off its location tracking
- Figuring out how to see your Google location history is easy to do in the Google Maps app.
- When you use Google Maps for navigation, the app stores all your destinations and the routes you took to get there.
- You can browse your Google Maps travel history and even see photos you took with your phone at each location.
- If you prefer not to store this information, you can delete locations from your Google Maps history, or disable location tracking entirely.
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For many of us, Google Maps has become an essential tool for getting around town (even though Google has been known to occasionally steer people the wrong way).
Google Maps keeps a record of everywhere you navigate, and the app makes it easy to see your location history, complete with the exact routes you took to get there. If you have privacy concerns, you can delete your history or disable it entirely.
The procedure for seeing your location history is the same on both the iPhone and Android devices.
How to see your location history in Google Maps
1. Start the Google Maps app on your phone.
2. Tap the three horizontal lines (called a "hamburger menu) at the top left of the screen.
3. Tap "Your timeline."
You can explore trips you've made, day-by-day. You can swipe the bottom half of the screen to change days, or tap the calendar icon at the top of the screen to choose a specific day. Google Maps even shows you photos you took with your phone's camera at locations on the map.
How to delete your location history in Google Maps
If you want to delete specific locations from your history, or clear all the data entirely, you can do that.
1. While on the Your timeline page, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen.
2. On the pop-up menu, tap "Settings."
3. You now have three options:
- To delete a specific set of locations, tap "Delete Location History range" and then, on the Delete range page, choose the start and end dates. Then tap "Delete."
- To clear your location history in its entirety, tap "Delete all Location History" and confirm your choice on the pop-up screen.
- To configure Google Maps to automatically clear your location history every few months, tap "Automatically delete Location History." On the next page, choose whether to delete your history every three months or every 18 months, and then tap "Next."
How to disable location tracking in Google Maps
If you never want Google Maps to store your location history at all, you can turn this feature off entirely.
1. While on the "Your timeline" page, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen.
2. In the pop-up menu, tap "Settings."
3. Tap "Location History is on."
4. On the Location History page, turn off Location History by swiping the button to the left.
Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:
How to download maps on the Google Maps app for offline use
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How to stop your iPhone from tracking your location, and manage each app's location-tracking
How to drop a pin on Google Maps from your desktop or mobile app