How to Turn Off Google Maps Timeline and Delete Location History

Decide whether to stop, delete, or auto-delete

Timeline is the current name for the feature formerly called Location History. It is off by default and requires opt-in. When enabled, it can save precise-location visits and routes on each eligible signed-in device. Start with the result you actually want; the choices do different jobs.

Deletion is permanent through Google’s deletion action. Do not continue because the words sound similar: Turn off and Turn off and delete activity are separate choices.

Turn off Timeline on Android

Google’s current Android workflow requires Google Maps version 11.106 or later. Timeline is not available on Android Go devices.

1. Open the Google Maps app and confirm the profile photo or initial belongs to the intended Google Account.
2. Tap the profile photo or initial, then Your Timeline.
3. Tap More → Location & privacy settings.
4. Tap Timeline is on.
5. Under Timeline, open the dropdown and choose Turn off.
6. Read the confirmation screen before accepting it. Do not choose Turn off and delete activity unless deletion is also your goal.

Repeat the check on another device if it may hold separate Timeline data. Turning the setting off does not remove visits already saved on the current device.

Turn off Timeline on iPhone or iPad

Google’s current iPhone/iPad workflow requires Google Maps version 6.93 or later.

1. Open Google Maps and verify the profile photo or initial for the intended account.
2. Tap the profile photo or initial, then Your Timeline.
3. Tap More → Location & privacy settings.
4. Tap Timeline is on.
5. Under Timeline, use the dropdown to choose Turn off.
6. Review the final choice before confirming. Turn off and delete activity adds a destructive step; it is not the ordinary stop-only option.

Google Maps’ iOS location permission remains separate. Turning Timeline off does not itself change the app’s location permission or device Location Services.

You cannot open Timeline in Maps on a computer

Current Timeline data comes directly from the device, so Google says Timeline is not available in Google Maps on a computer. Use the current Google Maps mobile app for device Timeline, selected deletions, backups, and imports.

To inspect an available export on a laptop, follow the Timeline Visualizer guide. Viewing that file is separate from restoring history to a phone.

Google also provides account-level Timeline controls in My Google Activity, including turning Timeline off or deleting all Timeline for the account. That does not turn the desktop Maps website into a Timeline viewer. If you need to remove only a range, day, or visit, use the mobile app.

Check these things before deleting anything

Pause at the confirmation screen and check:

1. Google Account: make sure the photo or initial is the account you intend to manage.
2. Current device: Timeline data is stored per device; identify the phone or tablet you are viewing.
3. Other devices: edits and deletions made on one device are not automatically reflected on other devices.
4. Backup: check whether this device has an encrypted Timeline backup and whether recent changes have reached it.
5. Auto-delete: note whether a 3-, 18-, or 36-month retention choice is already active.
6. Export: decide whether a readable copy would be useful before deletion. An export is not a promised restorable Timeline backup.
7. Selection: reread the exact range, day, or visit before confirming a permanent deletion.

If the concern is a saved Home location rather than past movement, use the separate steps to change or remove Home on Google Maps. Changing Home does not rewrite Timeline.

Delete all Timeline data or only part of it

For all Timeline data on Android or iPhone/iPad:

1. Open profile photo or initial → Your Timeline.
2. Tap More → Location & privacy settings.
3. Under Location settings, tap Delete all Timeline data.
4. Read the scope shown and follow the confirmation instructions only if it is correct.

For a date range, follow the same path and choose Delete range of Timeline data, then verify the start and end dates before confirmation.

For one day, open Your Timeline, tap Today, choose the intended day in the calendar, then tap More → Delete day → Delete.

For one visit, open the intended day, use More beside that visit, choose Remove, and follow the confirmation steps. A wrong visit may be removable without erasing the rest of the day.

Set Timeline to auto-delete

Auto-delete keeps Timeline on and deletes entries older than the retention period you choose. Google’s current mobile instructions offer 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months.

Open profile photo or initial → Your Timeline → More → Location & privacy settings → Auto-delete Timeline data, choose the period, and review the confirmation. Auto-delete is not the same as turning Timeline off.

There is an important tradeoff: Google currently requires auto-delete to be off before you turn on Timeline backup. Check which goal matters more before switching either control.

Know the difference between backup and export

An optional Timeline backup stores an encrypted copy on Google’s servers for a particular device. Backup is a separate opt-in on each device. Changes can take several days to appear in a backup, so do not assume a last-minute edit is already protected.

In Your Timeline, tap the cloud or Backup control to inspect backups. A listed device backup can be imported to another device through More → Import. For a locked-data message on Android, use the original-device checks under “If an Android backup is locked” below; do not delete every backup just to dismiss the warning.

Turning off and deleting a backup does not delete the Timeline data saved on the devices. Conversely, device data and backup copies can coexist, so check both before a destructive action.

An export is different:

• Android: device Settings → Location → Location services → Timeline → Export Timeline data, then choose where to save it.
• iPhone/iPad: Google Maps → profile → Settings → Location & Privacy → Export Timeline data → Save to Files. Google names the result location-history.json.

The export provides a copy of data. Current Google instructions document restoring Timeline through the encrypted backup/import flow—not by importing that JSON file—so do not call the export a guaranteed restorable backup.

Treat every device as a separate Timeline store

Timeline can save data on each eligible signed-in device. Google says an edit or deletion on one device is not automatically reflected on other devices. Verify every phone or tablet that may have recorded Timeline under the intended account.

Device loss also matters. A factory reset or clearing Google Play services data can remove Android device-stored Timeline. Deleting Google Maps or resetting an iPhone/iPad can remove device-stored Timeline there. An optional encrypted backup is the documented route for importing backed-up Timeline to another device; it is not proof that every recent change has arrived.

Timeline off does not turn off every location control

Timeline off stops new visits and routes from being added to Timeline. Other location controls remain separate.

Clear searches without deleting Timeline

Maps history can contain searches, directions, and places you viewed. If a past search or suggestion is the problem, follow the focused Maps search-history guide instead of deleting visits and routes.

Search Services History controls whether Search and Maps activity is saved; personalized recommendations and ads also have their own settings.¹

Google is rolling out Search Services History gradually; accounts without the new settings may still use Web & App Activity for that history function.² Treat the label you actually see as the guide; neither control is the same as Timeline.

Stop sharing or change app permissions separately

Location Sharing can continue even when Timeline is off. To identify the recipient-visible data, choose a duration, and stop every intended recipient, use the live Location Sharing guide. Do not rely on Timeline as an indirect switch.

Android’s Maps location permission and iPhone/iPad Location Services—including Precise Location—control access to the current device location. Turning those permissions down can affect navigation and the blue dot, not just Timeline. Make that broader change only if it matches your goal.

Maps Incognito mode limits what Maps saves or uses for personalization during that app session and pauses Timeline updates on the device. It does not prevent an internet provider, other apps, voice search, or other Google services from observing activity outside Maps.

Photo location is another separate layer. Google Photos can change or remove estimated locations and locations you added manually; it cannot change or remove a location automatically added by the camera.³ Review the photo or camera control if the concern is an image, not a Timeline visit.

If you are planning a low-connectivity trip, downloaded Google Maps coverage remains on the device until managed through Offline maps. Turning Timeline off does not remove it. When a saved point is described by numbers, the latitude-and-longitude guide explains coordinate order without exposing a private trip.

Verify the result you intended

After a stop-only change:

1. Reopen Your Timeline → More → Location & privacy settings on the current device.
2. Confirm the Timeline status is off.
3. Confirm that retained visits still appear only if you intended to keep them.
4. Check other eligible devices separately.
5. Review Location Sharing, history, app permission, saved places, and photo settings only if those surfaces are also part of your goal.

After a deletion, check the exact date or visit you selected rather than assuming every device changed. Do not create a real journey merely to test the setting.

Fix common Timeline problems

If Timeline is not working, first separate a missing menu, new visits not recording, older history missing and an incorrect visit. Keep remaining history intact: factory resets and clearing Google Play services data can delete Android Timeline; deleting Google Maps or resetting an iPhone/iPad can delete its local Timeline. These are poor first troubleshooting steps.

Timeline availability can depend on country or region, age restrictions and whether a work or school administrator has enabled it.⁴ Check the availability shown for your account; do not assume switching accounts or changing an age field is a repair.

New visits are not being recorded

Start on the phone you carry, confirm the intended Google Account and decide whether you want Timeline recording enabled. If you intentionally turned it off, keep that privacy choice.

1. On Android, open Your Timeline → More → Location & privacy settings and check both Location is on and Timeline is on.⁵ If a setting is off and you want recording, open that control and follow its Turn on instructions.
2. On iPhone or iPad, Google’s Maps instructions call for Location Services set to Always; Google’s iPhone Timeline Help also says Background App Refresh must be on.⁶ In Timeline’s Location & privacy settings, follow the Location Services prompt to Location → Always if that is the access you intend to grant. Also check Timeline’s status; if it is off and you want recording, choose Timeline is off → Turn on → Turn on.
3. Maps Incognito mode pauses Timeline for the entire device, not just the Maps app.⁷ To resume ordinary Maps use, open the profile menu and choose Turn off Incognito mode.

After a normal trip, check the same device and day again. Treat this as a check of future recording; use the missing-history steps for earlier visits.

Older visits are missing or you changed phones

Signing into the same account on a new phone does not establish that it holds the old phone’s visits. Work through the retained copies before changing or deleting data:

1. Confirm the account and open Timeline on the device that recorded the visits, if you still have it.
2. Select the intended day: Android uses Today and its calendar; iPhone/iPad uses Show calendar. Compare the same date on any other relevant device.
3. Check the existing auto-delete choice and any deletions you made. A retention setting can explain why older dates are absent.
4. Inspect the cloud/Backup control for a listed device backup. Recent changes may not yet be included, because Google says backups can lag by a few days.

On Android or iPhone/iPad, open Your Timeline, tap the cloud or Backup control, select a listed device under Your backups, then choose More → Import and review Import Timeline from backup.⁸ Confirm the intended device backup before importing it. The exported JSON described earlier is a separate copy for viewing, not this import workflow.

Google says visits to places it designates as particularly personal are deleted from Timeline after the visit is identified.⁹ For an isolated missing visit, open the place’s page and look under Your visits and Maps history for the automatic-deletion message.

If no relevant device copy or usable backup remains, these checks do not establish a recovery path. Preserve any available export for reading rather than treating it as a way to recreate missing phone history.

If an Android backup is locked

For Android’s “your encrypted data is locked on this device” message, Google first directs you to the device originally used to encrypt the backups.¹⁰

If you still have that original device, open Google Maps → Your Timeline → Backup there and re-enter your password when prompted; Google also documents Fix now on a backup alert on another device.¹¹ Then check or restore the backup on the new device.

Without the original device, Google’s Android fallback permanently deletes the existing backups so new backups can be created; it does not recover those deleted backups.¹² Do not choose that destructive fallback merely to dismiss the alert if your goal is to recover existing history. These lock-specific steps are documented for Android; use the instructions shown by Maps on iPhone/iPad rather than assuming the same procedure applies.

A visit shows the wrong place or time

Google’s current Android and iPhone/iPad instructions both use Your Timeline → Edit → Edit day to correct an entry’s place or visit time.¹³ First choose the day containing the incorrect entry.

Choose the intended place from Select place or use Search for a place; tap the visit’s time to change it, then Save and Done.¹⁴ Reopen that day and check the result on the same device. Correcting one entry is a more focused choice than deleting an otherwise useful day; an edit does not automatically change another device’s history.

Use location tools deliberately in class

Timeline is personal movement history, not a classroom map layer. For lessons, choose the product that fits the job with the Maps, My Maps, and Earth comparison, then follow the teacher workflow for accounts and privacy. The mapping-research privacy checklist helps separate useful research records from personal data that should never enter an assignment.

When students need to present public research locations, use a teacher-controlled project and choose My Maps sharing permissions deliberately. Do not use, request, or publish students’ real Timeline data.

For the wider account and sharing review, the Google Maps privacy checklist connects Timeline with searches, live sharing, public contributions and custom maps.

A short privacy-safe checklist

• Choose Turn off when the goal is to stop new Timeline entries and retain existing history.
• Use Turn off and delete activity only when permanent deletion is also intended.
• Check the account, current device, other devices, backup, auto-delete, export needs, and selection first.
• Treat encrypted backup/import and JSON export as different tools.
• Manage searches, Location Sharing, app permissions, Incognito mode, photo locations, saved places, and Offline Maps separately.
• Never publish a private visit, route, home address, or precise personal coordinate.