Re: Location History is moving to on-phone timeline

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:
 

micky wrote:
 

Location History is now called Timeline, and you now have new choices
for your data.
>
     To continue using Timeline, you must have an up-to-date version of
the Google Maps app. Otherwise, you may lose data and access to your
Timeline on Google Maps..

 
Agree they're handling this badly ...

 
And just this minute, I've had a notification that i have until 18th May
2025 to decide what to do with my timeline.

  Yeah, same here (in The Netherlands and the same date).
 
  The description, explanation, justification and references are not
very clear. But I understand the bottom line is that you must follow the
procedures to put your Timeline data on your device (probably your
smartphone), because otherwise you will lose all your Timeline data and
hence any use of your Timeline.

  The clearest part is (in red):

"If you take no action, your visits and routes will be
 deleted, and your Timeline settings will be turned
 off after 18 May 2025. Until 18 May 2025 - if you
 haven't finished choosing your settings - your
 devices will keep saving Timeline data, and Google
 will continue using your data based on how Location
 History works today. Learn about how Location
 History is used."

  Also clear:

"After you do this, youll only be able to use Timeline in
 the app."

(where "the app" is the Google Maps app)

  So no more Timeline in a browser, i.e. also not on a computer.

  I wonder how large the amount of data is, which will be kept on your
device. They apparently assume that everyone has ample internal storage
for this. (My Timeline goes back many years.) And there's the issue of
backing up the Timeline data which is now on your device.

  And I still don't see an explanation *why* they are doing/changing
this. Only that each of your devices will keep its own Timeline, but I
think that's more a disadvantage than a feature.