Take it from someone who lost all of their Google history before. 😅
Google Timeline is disappearing all of its data older than three months by Dec. 1. Before that, current users will have to opt in via their settings to keep any of their previous data. Mostly, Timeline is being retired on the web and being moved to the Google Maps app.
For those not familiar, Timeline was formerly called Location History, and kept tabs on where you went. Think of it as a heatmap for your life.
As much as I am against giving The Powers That Be all of my information, there's a sad, sadistic part of me that would love to give all of my friends and family a intricate, complex web of mysteries about my life when I die. 1
Plus, even sometimes I don't even know where I went!
Here's the email per Google:
Hi [USER],
You previously turned on the Timeline setting-formerly called Location History -which helps you go back in time and remember where you've been. With Timeline, your visits and routes are automatically saved to a map on each of your devices.Timeline is changing and will now be created on your device. As part of this, you'll need to choose settings for your data by December 1, 2024 to avoid losing visits and routes.
How it works
Like before, your devices will continue to save your visits in Timeline when this setting is on. But now, if you're signed in on multiple smartphones, each device will save new visits on its own Timeline.
What you need to do
If you'd like to keep your saved visits and routes, choose your settings on your preferred smartphone by December 1, 2024. (You may first need to update the Google Maps app.) Learn more about how to keep your Timeline data.
After you do this, you'll only be able to use Timeline in the app.
If you take no action, you may lose data. Google will try moving up to 90 days of Timeline data to the first signed-in device you use after December 1, 2024. Your older data will be deleted. Timeline will also remain on for your account, and your devices will continue saving new visits. Your visits and routes older than 3 months will be auto-deleted.
