Google Maps location history: where it is now, and how to see, export or delete it

What changed in 2024–2025

• In December 2023 Google announced that Location History, renamed Timeline, would be stored on your device instead of in your Google account, and that the web version would go away.
• Through 2024 and 2025 users got an in-app prompt and email with a personal deadline to keep their history on a phone. Web data that wasn't moved by then was deleted.
• google.com/maps/timeline no longer shows your history, and Google Takeout no longer includes it once your Timeline is on the device. To get a copy you now export it from the phone.
• Optional encrypted backups on Google's servers let you restore your Timeline on a new phone.

See your history on the phone

1. Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture › Your Timeline.
2. Tap Today or the calendar and pick a day or month.
3. Use the tabs at the top (Places, Cities, World) for summaries.

Each phone keeps its own Timeline; edits and deletions on one device aren't copied to another.

Export it (Android)

1. Open the phone's Settings › Location › Location services › Timeline.
2. Tap Export Timeline data › Continue, choose a folder and tap Save.
3. You get a Timeline.json file (the name can be in the phone's language).

Export it (iPhone)

1. In Google Maps tap your profile picture › Settings › Location & privacy (on some versions Personal content).
2. Tap Export Timeline data › Save to Files.
3. You get location-history.json.

Menu names vary by phone and app version. If you don't see the option, update Google Maps.

See it on a computer

Copy the export to your computer and open it in Trackmere – it runs in the browser and nothing is uploaded. You get every day on a full-size map, visits with times, places, distances, days per country, and exports to Excel, CSV, GPX or KML. Older Takeout files (Records.json, Semantic Location History) can be opened at the same time; overlaps are merged. More: Timeline viewer on a computer.

Back it up

Google Maps › Your Timeline › the cloud icon › turn on Backup. Google's help notes that auto-delete must be off for backups, and that changes can take a few days to reach the backup. An exported file every few months is a second copy you control.

Delete it

You can delete a day, a range, or all Timeline data, and set auto-delete after 3, 18 or 36 months – see how to delete Google Maps Timeline history. Export first if you might need it later: deletions can't be undone.