Did Google Maps accidentally delete users’ historical location data?

Many stalwart users of Google Maps were big fans of its Timeline feature, which let them see where their phone (and therefore themselves as well) was at any given time. However, privacy concerns abound with such a feature, and so Google recently updated the way that it stores Timeline data to improve said privacy.

Before 2024, Google Maps stored users’ Timeline data on its servers, but at the end of last year it transitioned to storing that data on the user’s device. Over the last few weeks though, many users started noticing that their Timeline data was missing. After an investigation, Google recently confirmed that Maps had accidentally deleted that data for many devices.

The only potential solution to recover that data is if the user opted to have it backed up to the cloud when Google made the switch to storing data on the device. However, that option was turned off by default, so only users who had previously gone into their settings to turn it on are able to restore their data. For the rest, the data is gone for good. A Google spokesperson said the problem was the result of a technical glitch and was not intentional, though they declined to comment on exactly what caused the error.