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How to clear Google Maps history
Google Maps tracks your location history to give faster search results, more accurate recommendations, and wait-time estimates. The more data you share with Google, the more personalized your experience with the service becomes. While this can be helpful, it may alarm privacy-minded individuals that Google records your every move. Here’s how to delete your Google Maps history.
Read more: How to delete your Google search history
QUICK ANSWER
From your Google Account, select Settings and then select Maps history. From there, you can select the X icon beside specific entries you want to delete. To delete larger chunks of history, select More in the search bar, then Delete activity by choosing a time frame.
JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
How to delete Google Maps search history
When creating an account, by default, Google will enable Web & App Activity to collect your data and use it to give you more personalized experiences across all Google services. Google Maps uses this data to track recent places you’ve visited, reviewed, shared or searched for. Luckily, if you don’t want to share specific directions or a location you visited with Google, you can delete it.
Delete Google Maps history from the app
Open the Google Maps app on your phone or tablet, and sign in. Next, tap your Account icon in the top right corner and select Settings.
Under the Settings menu, tap Maps history.
From this page, you can see your activity, delete it manually, or choose to delete it automatically. Next to the entries you want to delete, tap the X icon and Delete to confirm your decision.
Delete Google Maps history from a computer
Open Google Maps on your web browser, then click Menu in the top left corner. From there, click Maps activity.
From here, you can see your activity, delete it manually, or choose to delete it automatically using specific controls.
You’ll find your recently-visited locations listed below and can erase them by clicking the X icon and choosing Delete.
To delete past trips or locations, you can search for them or select a date range by clicking the Delete drop-down menu on the right side of Filter by date.
How to delete all or a range of Google Maps history
If you don’t want Google Maps recording anywhere you’ve been or looked at, you can delete your entire history. This is an excellent method to share data with other Google services but not Google Maps. Otherwise, it’s probably best to disable Web & App Activity in your account settings.
Be aware that deleting all of your Google Maps history doesn’t delete places you’ve saved, shared, or reviewed.
Delete Google Maps history from the app
Open the Google Maps app on your Android phone or tablet, and sign in. Next, tap your Account Circle in the top right corner and select Settings.
Under the Settings menu, tap Maps history.
Here, you’ll find your Maps Activity settings. Tap the Delete to drop down a menu of different ranges of time that can be erased.
If you select Auto-delete, Google will delete your maps history every 18 months, so you don’t manually have to do it each time.
Delete Google Maps history from a computer
Open Google Maps on your web browser, then click Menu in the top left corner. From there, click Maps activity.
From here, you can see your activity, delete it manually, or choose to delete it automatically using specific controls.
First, click the Delete menu beside the Filter by date section to delete all your history.
Lastly, select All time and then click Delete. You can return to this page to set up automatic deletions of your Maps history to avoid doing it automatically every time.
How to clear location history in Google Maps
Location history is a setting within your Google Account that tracks where you go on each device you’re signed into. Benefits include accessing personalized maps, getting recommendations based on places you’ve visited, helping to find your phone, and real-time traffic updates about your commute. You can limit which devices provide location data or turn it off to halt the process entirely. However, the previous activity is not deleted from your Location History when turned off.
Clear all or a range of location history from the app
Open Google Maps on your phone or tablet. Tap your Account Circle in the top right corner and tap Your Timeline.
If you want to clear all your location history or a specific range, navigate to your Settings and privacy and select Delete all Location History or Delete Location History range.
Clear location history from a computer
Open your Google Maps Timeline from a web browser. Then, click the garbage-bin icon in the bottom right.
To clear a single day of location data or a single stop along your trip, first select the correct date in the Timeline in the top left corner.
Then, click the garbage bin to delete the whole day, click the three dots beside a single stop, and click Remove stop from day.
Read more: How to delete a Google or Gmail account
FAQs
Your Timeline in Google Maps won’t track how far you’ve walked, but it will track how much time you spent walking, driving, cycling, and taking public transportation. Open your Timeline and select Insights to see how long you spend in each mode of transportation.
Yes. You can track your run with Google Maps by setting a walking direction, and then you can view the result in Timeline. However, Google Fit might be a better way to record the distance traveled, as Google Maps will only show you the time spent running.
Yes, but you must have opted-in to Google’s Find my Phone service. Open your Timeline in Google Maps to see the most recent location of your phone. You can also trace your phone from the last date you had it and view the routes the phone traveled. Note that the phone needs to remain turned on for the tracking feature to work. Without an active battery, it cannot transmit the GPS signal.