You may have received a mail that says updates are coming to Google Maps Timeline. From December, Google Maps will switch Timeline, the feature that keeps track of places you’ve visited and routes you’ve taken, to on-device only to protect your privacy. It means better privacy for your location data and it also means the company will link the data to the devices you use. Google first announced this change in December 2023 as part of its efforts to improve privacy.

If you don’t enable Timeline settings by December, you risk losing important data linked to the places you have visited.

The transition to on-device storage means you’ll no longer be able to access your Timeline from the web. In case you don’t enable the new Timeline rule, Google may move the past 90 days of your travel history to the first device you sign in to Google on.

Location data, otherwise, can be a privacy nightmare, especially when combined with GPS data from cars, wearables and online breadcrumbs.

In case you want to keep using Timeline, visit Google Maps on your mobile device, click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen, and choose ‘Your Timeline’. Next, select whether you want to keep your location data until you manually delete it or have Google auto-delete it after three, 18 or 36 months.

You can choose the new option from your phone, on Android and iOS. In case you switch devices, there is the option to auto-backup your Timeline with an encrypted copy of your data uploaded to Google’s servers.