alertify

Explore the world with Alertify. Get roaming news, tips, and the tech to travel without limits.

Follow Us

GO UP
google maps

Google Maps tracks everywhere you go

Google tracks all of your steps. In fact, Google Maps keeps records of all the locations you have visited while holding the phone in your pocket. Just because you trust the app, it doesn’t mean all the places you have ever been needing to live on Google servers forever.

SIM card e SIM shop

If you don’t configure Google Maps properly, it will automatically keep a detailed log of everywhere you go, whether you’re walking, driving, or even flying anywhere in the world, CNBC reports. It’s wildly detailed down to the minute and can show where you were at any moment in time. Find out how to automatically delete it.

That information can be helpful for you. You might want to look back and see where you went during a past trip, for example. Or you might want Google to know how long it typically takes to drive somewhere you go often. Still, it’s kind of creepy to have years and years of that data stored on Google’s servers.


 

But, over the summer, Google began rolling out a feature that lets you automatically delete your saved location date either every 18 months or every 3 months. Anything older than that is automatically deleted, so Google won’t know about those stops you made in Las Vegas last year.

Oddly, it’s not where Google normally puts this setting, on your Google Account page. Instead, you need to dig through your settings in Google Maps.

Here’s what to do:

Open Google Maps on iPhone or Android.
Tap the menu bar on the top-left of the app.
Choose “Your Timeline.”
Tap the three dots on the top-right of the screen.
Choose “Settings and privacy.”
Select “Automatically delete location history.”
Change the setting from “Keep until I delete manually” to “Keep for 18 months” or “Keep for 3 months.”

 

Like this? "Sharing is caring!"