Where did my Google Maps Timeline go, and how to get your history back

Blog10 November 2026

Google Maps Timeline used to live on the web. You could open it on a desktop, pick a day and see every place you had been. That web version is gone. Timeline now stores your history on your phone, so if your old days look thin or empty, one of a few things has probably happened.

What changed

Google moved Timeline to on-device storage. Instead of keeping your location history on its servers, Maps keeps it on the phone, with an optional encrypted backup to your Google account. Google asked people to move their history over before the server copies were deleted, and plenty of people never saw the prompt.

Check what is on your phone

Open Google Maps, tap your profile picture and look for Your Timeline. Pick a date. If days appear, your history is there. It is just on the phone now, and you can only see it on the phone.

Check for a backup

Timeline has a backup setting. If it was on, your history restores when you sign in to the same Google account on a new phone. If you changed phones and Timeline looks empty, sign in with the account you used before and check that setting. If backup was never on, your history only exists on the old phone, so find that phone before you reset it.

Look for an older export

If you ever downloaded your location history through Google Takeout, that file may still be in your email, Drive or downloads folder. Takeout exports are JSON files, and older ones are often split into monthly files. They are not pleasant to read as plain text, but the data is in there.

If it is gone

If the server copy was deleted before you moved it and you never exported it, we do not know of a way to bring it back. Google's own help pages are the place to confirm, because the details have changed more than once.

You can still rebuild past days from other records:

• Photos, which usually carry a time and a location.
• Calendar entries, job sheets and quotes.
• Fuel receipts, parking apps and toll statements.
• Texts and emails that mention an arrival or a finish time.

Protect what you have now

Export your Timeline data today and keep the file somewhere safe. We wrote the steps in how to export your Google Maps Timeline on Android. Decide on the backup setting on purpose, because a backup means your history is stored in your Google account.

If you used Timeline to work out your hours

Timeline shows places. It does not know which job you were at, and it does not separate time on site from time driving. If you were using it to build invoices, a tool made for that will save you the reconstruction. Tarry is one option: it keeps its timeline on your phone with no account. It does not import your old Google history, so it covers days from the day you start using it.