How to Delete and Turn Off Google Maps Location History
It’s kind of annoying that for years, we have been unknowingly letting Google track our location. If you visit your Timeline in Google Maps, you’ll witness your entire location history firsthand. This undermines your privacy goals. Thankfully, Google has made it easier for everyone to delete or even completely turn off the location history on Google Maps.
Table of Contents
How to View Your Location History in Google Maps
Viewing your location history on Google Maps is a pretty straightforward process. Simply openGoogle Mapson your phone, tap on yourProfile Picture, and then select theYour Timelineoption.
From there, you may choose thedateto view your location history, see the cities you have traveled to, review the activities you engaged in, and other additional insights about your past movements.
Before you delete your location history, you may consider downloading your Google Maps data for future reference or personal archiving. This way, you’re able to always use the backup to access your past data, such as places you’ve visited, routes you’ve taken, and timestamps of your activities.
Here’s how you can download your location history:
1.Tap yourProfile Iconand select theYour data in Mapsoption.
2.Scroll down and hit theDownload your Maps dataoption.
3.Select themap datathat you want to download and then hit theNext Stepbutton.
4.Now, select thetransfer destinationfor your backup. You have multiple options to choose from, including email, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box.
5.After that, choose the frequency, file type, and file size as per your preference, and then hit theCreate exportbutton.
That’s it. Google will nowbegin the backup process. The completion time of the backup file depends on the size and amount of data being processed. It may take a couple of hours or days to complete.
Once the copy of your Google Maps data is successfully backed up, you can revisit theDownload your Maps datapage and tap theManage exportsbutton.
With a simple tap, you will be able to effortlessly download the backup files of your choice.
Note:The download link is only available for seven days from the day of export.
How to Turn Off Google Maps Location History
If you’re concerned about your privacy andsecurityor no longer want to see targeted ads from Google, it’s time for you to stop Google from storing your location history. And the process to do that is quite simple; just follow the instructions below:
1.OpenGoogle Mapson your iPhone or Android device.
2.Tap on yourProfile Pictureand selectYour Timeline.
3.Now tap on theKebab Menu(3-dots icon) in the top right corner and go toSettings and privacy.
4.Under location settings, select theLocation History is onoption and then choose yourGoogle account, if prompted.
5.In the Location History column, tap on theTurn offbutton and select theTurn offoption.
That’s it. Google will now no longer save any new places,routes, or trips to your Timeline or its server. As you can see from the below screenshot, Google is no longer saving your location history.
Tip:Is yourGoogle Maps draining your phone battery? Here are 20 fixes for it.
How to Delete Your Location History in Google Maps
Just by turning off the Location History, it won’t magically delete all your Google Maps data. You have to manually dig through settings to delete your Google Maps Location History. You can choose to delete it in three different ways: all at once, individually, or automatically.
Delete All Your Location History in One Go
If you want to completely annihilate your location history from Google Maps, you can follow the below instructions:
1.OpenGoogle Mapson your phone, tap yourProfile Pictureand then selectYour Timeline.
2.TapKebab Menu(3-dotted icon) and selectSettings and privacy.
3.Next, select theDelete all Location Historyoption.
4.Lastly, tick thecheckboxand tap theDeletebutton.
Now all your Location History from Google Maps will be deleted.
Individually Delete Your Location History
If you want to choose specific days to delete from your Google Maps Location History instead of deleting all of it, there are two ways to accomplish that. you’re able to either delete it by day or choose a specific range to delete.
Delete by Day:
1.Tap yourProfile Iconand selectYour Timeline.
2.TapKebab Menu(3 dotted icons) and choose theDelete dayoption.
3.Finally, hit theDeletebutton and your location history of that day will be erased.
Here’s the before and after screenshot of the Location History:
Delete Within a Specific Range:
1.Again tap on yourProfile Pictureand selectYour Timeline.
2.TapKebab Menu(3-dots icon) and chooseSettings and privacy.
3.Scroll down and select theDelete Location History rangeoption.
4.After that, set yourStartandEnddate and then hitContinue.
5.A confirmation pop-up will appear, check theboxand hitDelete.
You have now successfully deleted the Google Maps Location History within the specified date range.
Automatically Delete Your Location History
If you want to delete the older location history but wish to keep track of your recent activities, you’re able to enable the auto-delete option to automatically remove the older data without the need for manual deletion. Here’s a complete process:
1.Go to your Timeline’sSettings and privacypage.
If you don’t know how to go there, refer to the above section.
2.Choose theAutomatic delete Location Historyoption.
3.Now select the desiredtimeframeto enable the automatic deletion of all your data.
4.Once done, hit theNextbutton.
5.Confirm your decision by tapping on theConfirmbutton.
Google will now begin deleting all your location history older than the timeframe you have set.
Tip:Learn how toautomatically delete your entire Google activity
Pros and Cons of Deleting or Turning Off Location History
Before you take any action, it’s important to know the consequences as well. Here are some potential advantages and disadvantages to consider:
Stop Spoon-Feeding Your Location Data to Google
While Google can still track your location through various means, you can at least minimize it by deleting or disabling the Location History in Google Maps. This will further enhance your privacy and data security. We hope the above guide will help you take control of your location data.
Rahul is your go-to guide for fixing Windows, Steam, Android, Samsung TV, and Google Chrome. An engineering college dropout who followed his passion for tech, he brings 3 years of troubleshooting experience and 2+ years of running his own tech blog to the table. When he’s not solving your tech problems, you’ll find him unwinding with the latest anime or K-drama.
