r/GoogleMaps • • Jun 18 '24

Google Maps MEGATHREAD: Google Maps Timeline Moving To On-Device Storage: Web Access Ending Soon - What You Need To Know

180 Upvotes

What Is Happening (Or Already Happened To You)?

Google is moving or has already moved your Timeline data, which tracks places you visit and routes you take, from their online servers to your phone. This change means that you soon won't be able to or already can't access or manage your Timeline through the Google Maps website via a web browser.

Why Is This Happening?

  1. Privacy and Security: By storing this data on your device instead of online, your location history is more secure and private. Only you have access to this data unless you choose to back it up.
  2. Control Over Your Data: This gives you more control over your data. You decide if you want to back it up or delete it, and you can manage it directly on your phone.
  3. Reduced Liability: By keeping the data on users' devices, Google reduces its liability and the risk of having to comply with geofence warrants or subpoenas that require providing information about users' locations.

Can You Prevent This From Happening?

No, users cannot prevent this change from happening and maintain their web-based Timeline data. Google is transitioning all Timeline data to be stored on users' devices and discontinuing the web-based access to this data.

What Do You Have To Do To Adapt To These Changes?

  1. Update Your Google Maps App: Ensure you have the latest version of the Google Maps app on your device.
  2. Backup Your Data: Use the backup feature in the Google Maps app to create an encrypted copy of your Timeline data. This will allow you to transfer your data to a new device if needed.
  3. Check/Watch For Notifications: Look out for notifications from Google about the transition. These may come in the form of emails, push notifications, or in-app messages.
  4. Set Data Retention Preferences: In the Google Maps app, you can manage how long your location history is kept. Options include three, 18, or 36 months, or indefinitely until you manually delete it.
  • Once the transition is complete, web-based access to Timeline data will no longer be available. All management and viewing of this data will need to be done through the Google Maps app on mobile devices.

While you cannot stop the transition to on-device data storage or maintain web-based access to your Timeline data, you can ensure your data is backed up and properly managed on your mobile device.

What Is The Deadline For These Changes?

You have until December 8, 2024, to make these changes. If you don’t update your settings or your Google Maps app, you might lose some or all of your historical Timeline data.

Additional Reading About The Changes:

Alternatives and Solutions

  1. Use the Mobile App: Unfortunately, there is no way to bring back the Timeline feature on the web. The best alternative is to use the Google Maps app on your mobile device. The app has all the functionality of the web version and more, allowing you to view, edit, and manage your Timeline data.
  2. Backup and Transfer: If you're worried about losing your data, make sure to back it up. You can save an encrypted copy of your Timeline data to your Google account. This allows you to transfer your data to a new device if needed. To do this:
    • Open the Google Maps app.
    • Go to the Timeline section.
    • Follow the prompts to set up automatic backups.
  3. Extended Storage Options: You can also extend the auto-delete window for your location history if you want to keep your data longer. Options include keeping your data for three, 18, or 36 months, or indefinitely until you manually delete it.
  4. Feedback to Google: If you are unhappy with these changes, you can provide feedback directly to Google via the Maps website or Maps app. Please remember that this support group on Reddit is not an official method of feedback or support of Google or Google Maps.

r/GoogleMaps • • 21m ago

What's with the disorienting new enter/exit Street View animations on web?

• Upvotes

Recent meeting at Google HQ:

Bozo 1: "Hey gUyZ, wouldn't it be, like, cool, if when the dumdums [Google corpo-speak for users] exit Street View, they get nauseous and lose their place on the map?"

Big Important Bozo: "HAHAH yes, do it, those stupid dumdums! Make it so the world seems to spin around so they feel woozy!"

Bozo 2: "Guyz Guyz Guyz my Guyz, what about if when they enter Street View, we spin the view so they start out facing in a totally unintuitive direction?!? HAHAHA those useless dumdums"

Big Important Bozo: *chokes to death laughing, dying words: "Dooo ittt, thoose stupiddd ... dum.. dummss".

Or something.


r/GoogleMaps • • 7h ago

Screenshot Cool little QOL fun! Trees in fall colors.

2 Upvotes

Just noticed this using Google Maps via Apple CarPlay. The new update shows trees in fall colors using navigation.
Pic of said digital trees


r/GoogleMaps • • 5h ago

Maps not loading route problem solved

1 Upvotes

I had a recurring problem for at least two years on two successive android phones: maps would work perfectly on WiFi and most of the time on mobile data. At times it would fail on data (map not loading, map loading but not loading a rout, “no internet service” although service was obviously available). Upon re-entering WiFi maps would work again and continue to work on data thereafter, but fail again at some time.
Apparent cause: I had set a large number of apps to “WiFi only” to save on my data plan. It seems that maps uses the app Google Play Services for access to the maps server and once established, access is good for a period of time. With Google Play Services set to WiFi only, it could obtain a handshake with the server and maps would work thereafter on data as long as the handshake was valid. Turning Google Play Services to “WiFi or mobile data” resolved the problem. (I am not a tech person, so this my not be technically precise)


r/GoogleMaps • • 13h ago

Help/Support how do i prevent family from tracking my phones locations with their google fi account?

4 Upvotes

i think its a lack of privacy and my brother is always checking where i go everytime i leave the house or state. he manages my phone number on his google fi account because we have a family plan for the whole family so idk what hes seeing or how he is able to track where i go. all i know is that he knows my every location. i dont like that. were both grown adults here why does he need to know my every location? how do i prevent this so he doesnt know where im always at. if i turn off my location will he know i turned it off? he is the type of person who will take offense to that


r/GoogleMaps • • 7h ago

Street View Google Maps Live View: "Unable to launch augmented reality functionality" on TCL 50 Pro

1 Upvotes

I am having a problem with Live View in Google Maps on my TCL 50 Pro.

Device: TCL 50 Pro

Android version: 16

Google Maps version: 26.42.01.997557324

What is happening:

Initially the Live View option in Google Maps was greyed out. After I installed "Google Play Services for AR" (ARCore) from the Play Store, Live View now shows the error "Unable to launch augmented reality functionality" when I try to start it.

What I have already tried:

- Updated Google Maps, Google Play Services and Google Play Services for AR

- Cleared the Google Maps cache

- Allowed Camera and Precise Location permissions

- Restarted the phone

- Tried walking directions outdoors in an area with Street View coverage

Could you please tell me:

  1. Is the TCL 50 Pro supported by ARCore and Google Maps Live View?

  2. If it is supported, how can I fix this error?

Thank you,

Anjum


r/GoogleMaps • • 8h ago

My Maps doesn't export <coordinates> in KML when pins come from addresses. Wrote a userscript to pull them out.

1 Upvotes

I've been mapping out ~700 bars in a neighborhood for a project and put them all in My Maps by address (street, number, zip). My Maps geocoded them fine and they look perfect on the map.

Then I tried to export the map to KML and import it into Organic Maps to plan visits. The pins scattered everywhere.

When you export a My Maps map to KML, Google only includes `<address>` for each pin, not `<coordinates>`. This is fine if the pins already had lat/lng, but when they came from geocoding an address, the exported KML has no position information at all. Any app you import it into has to guess based on the address string, and you know how that goes.

It's a deliberate limitation, cause Google doesn't want My Maps used as a free bulk geocoder. Fair enough, but it leaves you stuck when you've got hundreds of pins.

This is why I made a userscript to solve this problem. Tested on Firefox + Violentmonkey and Chrome + Tampermonkey. ~570 items take about 4 minutes. It has a STOP button if something goes wrong.

The script is here: https://github.com/davidosdr/coords-mymaps/

It's plain MIT, no analytics, no signup, no backend.


r/GoogleMaps • • 20h ago

'Report a Problem' has just gotten worse and worse

7 Upvotes

I've been quite good over the years in reporting 'problems' on the map - closed roads, roadworks, missing or non-existant roads etc. But now I'm just finding that everything is just "Not Accepted". Today, the road outside my house has been closed for 3 days. I have reported it to Google Maps three times - with links to the online portal with the closure notice, the closure reference etc. They just keep saying "Not Accepted". Means there's loads of people are clearly being directed on this route and then getting frustrated and lost and are needing to turn round on a small back street.

I've noticed this with my own use of directions...it just seems to be much more unreliable.


r/GoogleMaps • • 16h ago

Google Maps not working on my laptops but my phone app is working fine.

2 Upvotes

I’m having trouble with Google Maps. When I use my laptops on my profile, Google Maps won’t show my ID badge, or the zoom or any of the clickable icons that also appear on the map.  Saved places don’t appear on the Map.  The search bar appears but it doesn’t work.  When I use a mouse to zoom in or out, the motion of Google Maps online is herkie-jerky and moves funny.  This happens both my MacBook and my older PC when using my main profile. If I use one of my other profiles, it works normal on every device.  This has been giving me the identical trouble on Safari, Edge and Chrome. But Google Maps works normal on my iPhone as this problem happens when I’m using one of my laptops. This main Google profile of mine works fine with my regular email, but I noticed that when I bookmarked the Google calendar website, the little icon next to the calendar no longer shows today’s date.  It just displays the Google “G” instead.  I have tried everything from deleting book marks to updating browsers etc.  The only thing that seems to work is when I clear my browser history and search for Google Maps and log on that way.  But if I close the page, I’m back to having trouble again. It seems to me that something on my account is blocking me from logging in to my profile unless I start with a clean history.  Does anybody have any ideas on what to try next? Otherwise I might have to use one of my lesser used Google email accounts which would be a bummer because all of my saved locations are on my primary Google account. 


r/GoogleMaps • • 17h ago

What's wrong with Google and Google maps

2 Upvotes

Let's say I search " park near me" on Google , the first Park which appears it shows needs 500 m away from you and when I click on it and click on direction and open Google map , it comes out to be 2.4 km. And all the other results are like that . What is wrong ?


r/GoogleMaps • • 15h ago

Why is it not showing traffic anymore?

1 Upvotes

For the last week or so it shows very minimal traffic and tells me the route is clear, only got there to be a ton of traffic


r/GoogleMaps • • 17h ago

Discussion Google Maps now allows 25 stops instead of 10? Possible new rollout

1 Upvotes

I'm a delivery driver in Italy, and I've discovered that my Google Maps app now allows 25 points in a single route, instead of the usual 10.

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Maps version 26.42.01.997557324.

I tested it with 25 locations in New York, and Maps successfully calculated the entire route. It won't let me add a 26th point.

I also tested another phone, which is still limited to 10 points, although I haven't checked its app version yet.

Since r/GoogleMaps doesn't allow me to attach images, I've posted the screenshot here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/couriersofreddit/s/W34gfUVmpL

Is anyone else seeing this? Could Google be testing a new limit?


r/GoogleMaps • • 19h ago

Please help me find this place again on Google Maps—the one with the night street view. Spoiler

0 Upvotes

(SOLVED)I took this Google Earth screenshot for the first time in 2018 while exploring a random location. I saved it under the name “N Lincoln Street,” but now that I want to find it again, I can’t locate it anywhere. It might be somewhere near Seattle or on one of the islands there. It looks like a river, and there’s a railroad bridge over it. I’m attaching the photo to this comment.


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Help/Support Print (Preview too) Google Maps shows its map upside down in Google Chrome web browser in Intel MacBook Pro.

1 Upvotes

https://zimage.com/~ant/temp/GoogleMapPrintUpsideDownMapInGoogleChomeMac.png for a screen shot/capture from its preview. Using macOS Sequoia v15.8.1's print system dialog box shows the same issue. Using incognito still showed it so it's not cookies. I tried another macOS account to see if I could reproduce it. It didn't reproduce until I click on layers' traffic to show and then saw the issue again. I tured off traffic layer, but the issue remained.

Google AI says enable Google Maps' bottom left Layers' Globe View (in More option) to fix it, but that's annoying every time I use Google Maps to print. This never happened like last week or so. :(

I had no problems in updated Firefox v158.0.1 web browser in the same computer though. Is this a bug in Google Chrome? :(

Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Help/Support Google Maps dropping route guidance

2 Upvotes

Is anyone else having issues with Google Maps dropping route guidance mid-drive?

Edit:
This is happening in areas with plenty of signal.


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Google Maps turn-by-turn directions missing on HUD

1 Upvotes

Hey All - I've a HUD in my Lexus UX 250H 2024 and turn by turn directions appear in it when I'm using Apple Carplay but not when I'm using Google Maps on Android Auti which is counter-intuitive. Does anyone have any insights regards to whether how could I turn them on. If this is currently unavailable, is there a way to report that to Google and are there any chances of such changes being implemented in the past?


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

A swindler uses artificial intelligence to rob clients

0 Upvotes

We previously requested the removal of a post about Mohannad Recruitment Company, but no action was taken. Today, one of our clients lost a large sum of money due to fraud directly linked to this post.

Our support tickets have not resulted in any action. Please remove the post and restrict the account immediately to prevent further victims.

Google Maps location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DoPSYHRs7P3FiprY7

SCAMR 1 - SCAMR 2


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Why are there flags all over my map even if the lists aren't supposed to be showing?

0 Upvotes

I use Google maps for work and have locations on different lists. Recently locations are flagged on my map even though the list they are on isn't chosen. This never happened before. Does anyone know what's going on?


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

New avatar?

1 Upvotes

Anyone else notice a new (configurable) avatar on their navi?


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Ask Maps keeps showing “Currently unavailable”

1 Upvotes

Ask Maps works fine on my other Google accounts, whenever I try to use Ask Maps on my main Google account, it displays "Currently unavailable. Try again later."

I’ve tried clearing the cache and data, force-stopping the app, restarting my phone, and checking for updates. Everything is up to date, but the error persists.

Since this is my main account with all my saved places and history, I’d really like to fix it. Has anyone faced this issue or found a solution?


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Solicitud de corrección código postal

1 Upvotes

Alguien podría decirme si hay alguna manera de contactar o informar a Google Maps de que un código postal no es correcto? Pertenezco a la localidad de Chiclana de la Frontera en Cádiz, España, por algún motivo han confundido el código postal 11138 por 11130, que es el correcto, la localidad solo tiene un código y claro puedes solicitar cambios de calles, ubicación, número de vivienda.


r/GoogleMaps • • 1d ago

Directly go to search page with keyboard active for google maps

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/GoogleMaps • • 2d ago

Alternate Routes are not offered

3 Upvotes

I saw something similar in an old 6mo ago post with no resolution.

On multiple phones in two different vehicles I am not seeing any alternate routes. Only one route even when hitting the alternate route button to show more.

This is in my home area and alternate routes used to show.

Anyone else experiencing this and if so, anyone find a solution?


r/GoogleMaps • • 2d ago

Discussion Google Maps removing Pins?

1 Upvotes

Is anyone else having this issue, Google maps randomly removing some of your map pins?