Google Maps is changing the way it manages location data, that is, all that data that today is saved to the account under the Movement history. Instead of backing up your data to the cloud, Google will only store it locally on your device in the coming months.
In an email sent to some users, Google says that we will have until December 1, 2024 to save all the movements on the mobile device before it starts deleting old data. Travel is the function that keeps track of routes and trips based on the location of your phone: it is very useful for revisiting all the places we have been in the past, such as restaurants we liked or simply retracing our memories. It goes without saying that such a function can also create some concern for the privacy.
For this reason Google has now decided to connect all this information to the devices we use. Google first announced this change in December 2023 as part of its efforts to boost privacy. Previously, the company began removing places like abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss centers and more from its location history, and updated Maps to prevent authorities from accessing your travel history.
The move to on-device storage also means that from December we will no longer be able to access History from the web. This is unless the new History settings are manually enabled by that date: otherwise Google will attempt to move the last 90 days of movement history to the first device on which we log in to Google. The company will then delete all data prior to that date.
To continue using History, you will then need to open Google Maps on your mobile device, click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen and select Trips. From there, choose whether to keep your location data until you manually delete it, or whether Google automatically deletes it after three, 18, or 36 months. Google will store the information you want to keep on your device.
