Google on Wednesday began letting smartphone users automatically map where they have been.
Advertisement
The app displays the results on a spaghetti-like map.
Photos that document who you were with on a particular day at a specific place. For example I could dip into the records from my “quick trip to Osaka” and remove all the seedier entries or make it appear as though I never left the hotel, which is pretty weird given how adamant Google is that the user and only the user has access to this data.
Google warns that doing either of these will limit functionality of a few Google products over time, such as Google Maps and Google Now, so it’s up to you to decide if it’s appropriate for you.
Of course the feature’s usefulness rests entirely on whether or not you’ve been carrying your device with Global Positioning System and location history enabled every single day. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea – and who can blame you? – here’s our guide on how to disable the new feature.
You can also edit places in Your Timeline, remove a certain location or rename it at will, making it visible in Google Maps the next time you log in.
– Open the App drawer, head to Settings then to the Location.
If you’re logged into Google, just click on “My Account” and “Settings”.
With Your Timeline, you can add locations, and check your movements from any given week, month or year.
Either disable all Location Services using the slider at the top, or scroll through the list to decide, case-by-case, which apps you want to allow. Your Timeline is great to have when you have trouble remembering where you were and when.
Note that pausing Location History doesn’t turn off Location Reporting or location services for a given device.
Advertisement
If you have had location settings on and you’ve compiled all this data, you have the option to delete it all.
