If you are using an Android smartphone or an iPhone with Google Maps active in the background and if no changes have been made to the settings, then Google's location tracking is also active.
The history of Google Maps, in fact, is not only the one that lists the searches made of places and addresses, but also that of the places where we actually go every day, for work, for leisure or on vacation.
If the Google Maps location service is active, every movement you make is recorded by Google which then creates a history of the positions which if it has never been seen before, can be truly surprising (and also disturbing) for its precision and accuracy.
READ ALSO: Movements and places where we go are recorded and tracked on Android
The history of Google Maps can be checked on the PC from the Google Maps history page.
This displays a calendar and a map in which the places where you have been yesterday or in recent months are marked with red dots.
Location history is a timeline with daily and monthly data extracted from Google Maps, when the smartphone location service is active.
From the calendar at the top right you can check and review all the trips made day by day, look at the places where you have been in the past so you can see where we were, for example, March 18, 2013 or another specific day.
In a sense, this chronology of Google Maps can be interesting and useful to remember the places where we have been as in a travel log, which remains absolutely private and not shared with other people.
If you do not want to use this history and if you want to maintain greater privacy of the places where you go, without deactivating the geolocation of the mobile phone and without giving up Google Maps as a satellite navigator, you can always deactivate the functionality by going to the Google activity site. //myactivity.google.com.
Here you can delete specific references from the history for a day or a period by going, on the menu on the right, to the " Delete activity for " section.
Then choose the period for which you want to remove all traces, and then select, in the " All products " drop-down menu and select Maps.
If you select Always in the Delete by date field, your Google Maps history is completely cleared.
To completely disable the recording that Google Maps does in its history with places we go and all our movements, go instead, always from the MyActivity page, to Activity Management to find then the section dedicated to the history of positions and turn off the switch.
In addition, and this has recently been discovered, it is also necessary to turn off the switch of the Web and app activity page, in the activity control page
The history of Google Maps can also be viewed from the Android smartphone or from an iPhone .
On Android, open the Google Maps app, tap the menu and then on History to find all the places we have been.
Then tap on More to find settings that allow you to turn off location history.
This does not prevent the smartphone from exploiting the geolocation services, but Google is said not to record the positions.
On iPhone, open Google Maps and click on History to see all the places registered by Google Maps during our movements.
To turn off history, touch Menu and then Settings, go to Personal content, scroll down to " Location settings " and check if location is active.
Allowing Google or other companies to know our position may seem a little invasive, but I also think it is very useful in certain situations, for example to know what interesting places you have around, to tell a friend where we are with Google Maps or to have an always-on anti-theft service such as Find My Android.
The history of Google Maps, in fact, is not only the one that lists the searches made of places and addresses, but also that of the places where we actually go every day, for work, for leisure or on vacation.
If the Google Maps location service is active, every movement you make is recorded by Google which then creates a history of the positions which if it has never been seen before, can be truly surprising (and also disturbing) for its precision and accuracy.
READ ALSO: Movements and places where we go are recorded and tracked on Android
The history of Google Maps can be checked on the PC from the Google Maps history page.
This displays a calendar and a map in which the places where you have been yesterday or in recent months are marked with red dots.
Location history is a timeline with daily and monthly data extracted from Google Maps, when the smartphone location service is active.
From the calendar at the top right you can check and review all the trips made day by day, look at the places where you have been in the past so you can see where we were, for example, March 18, 2013 or another specific day.
In a sense, this chronology of Google Maps can be interesting and useful to remember the places where we have been as in a travel log, which remains absolutely private and not shared with other people.
If you do not want to use this history and if you want to maintain greater privacy of the places where you go, without deactivating the geolocation of the mobile phone and without giving up Google Maps as a satellite navigator, you can always deactivate the functionality by going to the Google activity site. //myactivity.google.com.
Here you can delete specific references from the history for a day or a period by going, on the menu on the right, to the " Delete activity for " section.
Then choose the period for which you want to remove all traces, and then select, in the " All products " drop-down menu and select Maps.
If you select Always in the Delete by date field, your Google Maps history is completely cleared.
To completely disable the recording that Google Maps does in its history with places we go and all our movements, go instead, always from the MyActivity page, to Activity Management to find then the section dedicated to the history of positions and turn off the switch.
In addition, and this has recently been discovered, it is also necessary to turn off the switch of the Web and app activity page, in the activity control page
The history of Google Maps can also be viewed from the Android smartphone or from an iPhone .
On Android, open the Google Maps app, tap the menu and then on History to find all the places we have been.
Then tap on More to find settings that allow you to turn off location history.
This does not prevent the smartphone from exploiting the geolocation services, but Google is said not to record the positions.
On iPhone, open Google Maps and click on History to see all the places registered by Google Maps during our movements.
To turn off history, touch Menu and then Settings, go to Personal content, scroll down to " Location settings " and check if location is active.
Allowing Google or other companies to know our position may seem a little invasive, but I also think it is very useful in certain situations, for example to know what interesting places you have around, to tell a friend where we are with Google Maps or to have an always-on anti-theft service such as Find My Android.
