he Location history Google Maps is a tool like any other. And as such it can be seen in a negative way (Google spying on us) or positively (it’s great to be able to consult the itinerary I followed on vacation).
This information can be really useful and Google already offers ways Delete them automatically When we prefer them to have no record. Actually, in 2019 they introduced an incognito mode for Google Maps, but recently has changed More powerful to control that location data and protect our privacy.
That location history—which is disabled by default—powers it Google Maps Timeline (in English, your timeline), which serves as a tool to manage that history so far. For example, we can delete it or disable it completely, but we can also edit the chronology if we see that there is an error in a route or place.
Google now offers new privacy controls for those with location history enabled That info coming soon It will not be stored on Google servers in the cloud, but on your own device.
This allows us, the users, to now have full control over that data, being able to delete it in whole or in part at any time, as well as enable or disable the function whenever we want.
The first time we enable location history, the option to automatically delete this data after three months will be set by default: any data older than this will be automatically and transparently deleted for the user.
The difference with the previous configuration is important, because Earlier it was 18 months. However, if we want to store this data longer, we can do so under the control of the tool.
Soon we’ll also have access to more detailed control over specific locations we’ve visited. We can search for any site on Google Maps and, if we want, exclude related searches, addresses or visits we made to that location.
The blue dot marking our location on the map now gets more options. By touching it on the screen we can see if our location history or our chronological preferences are activated and from there we can change those parameters.
Such changes allow, if we wish, to disable such recording of our activity, and they seem to aim to provide them. More convenience and more control over privacy for users. The company hasn’t behaved very well in the past, but these measures certainly seem like a step in the right direction… and never said better.
It is important to note that once we delete data from the cloud on Google Maps, it is deleted forever, so it might not be a bad idea to download a copy of that data in the future when we want to access it. The transition to this new model where data is stored on our mobile phones and not in the cloud is great news for those who have been concerned about their privacy.
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