Google Maps tracks everywhere you go. Some people find the fact that Google Maps keeps a log of everywhere you’ve been useful. For example, if you need to recall a friend’s address that you recently traveled to, you can simply look up your recent searches.
On the flip side, having everywhere you’ve recently traveled as public information can be invasive. So it makes sense that you would want to get rid of all the extremely detailed data Google Maps keeps on you, regardless of whether you use the GPS application.
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Over the summer, Google began rolling out a feature that lets you automatically delete your saved location data either every 18 months or every three months. Anything older than that is automatically deleted, according to CNBC.
To delete the log that Google keeps on you, just follow these simple steps:
- 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"
