Maps & Location History

HunnieBunnie · Mar 4, 2020

I had a rather disturbing email this afternoon from Google re my "location history" with Google Maps(?) .

Apparently, the mobile (iphone and/or my Android mobile) is saving a record of everywhere I have driven. Do not like that at all. Why would I need my mobile to save a record of where I have been? I know where I go. I do not need the mobile to save addresses/locations for me. Feels like a huge invasion of privacy.

Anyway, I went to my 8 Plus but did not see an app called Google Maps. There is a maps icon, but it does no look like Google. Also checked my Android but did not see a Google Maps icon there either, but I have disabled every app possible on that mobile in order to stop them from using up the battery.

I went onto Chrome next and tried to stop it. Not sure whether I succeeded or not. I have it "paused." I want the history deleted and the thing to remain OFF. How do I do that, please?

Thank you!

scifan57 · Mar 4, 2020

Apple maps is the stock map app on iOS devices. You would have to download the Google Maps app from the App Store to get it on your iPhone.

J. A. · Mar 4, 2020

The Google Maps app looks like this:

and it saves your maps history by default. You’ll have to pause it manually. There’s no option to stop it completely.

Login to your Gmail account via browser and go to your account settings. Select Data and personalisation, then choose Location History:

There, disable location History:

J. A. · Mar 5, 2020

To remove your location history, open Google Maps, tap the three lines at the top:

Go to Settings

Select Maps History

To delete more than one entry, use the trash icon. You can also make sure Google removes your Maps history periodically (in Choose how long to keep). You can either set it to manually delete your history, or keep it 9 or 3 months. Google doesn’t allow removing history sooner than that.