How to Delete Your Google Maps Timeline (and Keep It Off)

I used to think my Google Maps Timeline was a neat little digital scrapbook. It showed me that cafe I visited in 2019 and exactly which route I took to the airport three years ago. Then I looked closer and realized it also knew I spent 12 minutes at a doctor's office I didn't want on a permanent record, and it knew every time I stayed late at the office. Having a detailed log of every step you've taken for years sitting in the cloud is a bit much. Google recently changed how this works, moving most of the data store from their servers directly onto your phone, but you still want to clean house. I spent an afternoon wiping mine, and even though it felt like losing a bit of my history, the privacy trade-off was worth it.

Open Maps Timeline

To start, you need to find where Google hid the controls. On my Pixel 8 running Android 14, the easiest way is through the Maps app itself. Open Google Maps, tap your profile picture or initial in the top right corner, and select Your Timeline. If you haven't looked at this in a while, it might prompt you to update your settings to the new "on-device" storage model. This is part of Google's push to keep your location data on your hardware rather than their servers.

If you are on a Samsung device running One UI 6, the path is identical. Once you're in the Timeline view, you'll see tabs for Day, Trips, Insights, Places, Cities, and World. It's honestly startling to see how many "Cities" are logged. I found 42 cities on mine, including places I only drove through for ten minutes. To manage the actual data settings, look for the three vertical dots in the top right corner and tap Settings and privacy. This is the main control center for your movement history.

Delete everything

There are two ways to do this: the "surgical strike" and the "nuclear option." Sometimes I just want to remove a specific day because I was doing something private or I just don't want the record. For that, stay on the Day tab, tap the calendar icon, pick the date, tap the three dots, and hit Delete day. But we're here for a fresh start. On that "Settings and privacy" screen we just opened, scroll down until you see the Location Settings section.

Tap on Delete all Location History. You'll get a scary-looking pop-up warning you that this is permanent and will affect features like Google Assistant knowing your "home" or "work" (though you can always set those manually later). Check the box that says "I understand and want to delete" and hit the delete button. When I did this, it took a few seconds to process because I had nearly six years of data. One thing to keep in mind: deleting your Timeline doesn't necessarily delete your Web & App Activity. If you searched for a specific restaurant on Google, that search history stays unless you clear that too. This fix specifically targets the GPS breadcrumbs.

Set auto-delete

I don't want to have to remember to do this every month. The best way to manage this moving forward is to let Google do the chores for you. Back in the Settings and privacy menu, look for Auto-delete Location History. When you tap this, you usually get three choices: 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months. I personally set mine to 3 months. It gives me enough history to remember where that cool bookstore was from last month, but ensures my movements from last summer are wiped clean automatically.

If you've updated to the new on-device Timeline, you might see an option to back up an encrypted version of your timeline to the cloud. I chose to keep this turned off entirely. By keeping the storage "Off" or "Local Only," you ensure that even if someone hacks your Google account from a computer in another country, they can't see where you walked your dog yesterday morning. It's annoying that these menus feel buried under three layers of taps, but once it's set, you don't have to touch it again.