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Google Maps for iOS rolling out better curated travel history ‘Timeline’

One of the more useful things Google does with your Location History is aggregate visits. Google Maps for iOS is now gaining a revamped Timeline that better lets you browse your past travels.


Already available on Android, the new Timeline is rolling out to iPhones and iPads this week. It’s still accessed from the navigation drawer under “Your timeline.” However, instead of a single “Day” view that just shows what you’ve been doing chronologically, there are three new top tabs.

“Places” will group together stores, restaurants, and other locations you’ve visited with categories like “Shopping,” “Culture,” and “Attractions.” The “Cities” and “World” tabs work similarly.

Opening a grouping shows individual locations against a map. A carousel of filters allows you to browse down by the same category found in Places, while there’s a top-level ability to sort by “Most recent” or “Most visited.”

Each location in your Timeline can be bookmarked and added to private lists like “Starred places” or “Want to go.” It’s useful for marking past favorites that you’ve come across, and can be saved with a note.

Google imagines the new Maps Timeline in iOS as a way to relive memories and share recommendations with others. It also highlights the value to users of letting Google record this data as the company adds more privacy tools.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com