In 2019, Google largely focused on bringing updates to Google Maps that made easy to control, manage and delete location history information be it getting tips and recommendations tailored to your daily commute, or knowing when your favourite restaurants, grocery stores and places may be the most crowded so you don’t have to wait in queue. Additional tools like Location History, when turned on make Maps more useful for everyone, as well as personalised to your needs.
Google also introduced auto-delete controls so you can choose to keep only three or 18 months’ worth of data and anything older beyond that gets automatically deleted. And on Android, Google announced the Incognito mode on Google Maps that stops searches or places you navigate to within Maps from being saved to your Google Account.
And today, Google has announced two new updates – first, Incognito mode is rolling out on Google Maps for iOS today, and second, bulk delete in Timeline will arrive on Android next month.
Incognito mode on iOS works the same way it does on Android. The places you search for in Incognito mode won’t be saved to your Google Account and you won’t see personalised features within Maps, like restaurant recommendations based on dining spots you’ve been to previously.
Using Incognito mode on your phone will not update your Location History, so the places you go won’t be saved to your Timeline.
Your Timeline is a tool that uses your Location History to help you easily remember places and routes you’ve visited–and on Android, share them with friends.
With bulk delete, you can quickly find and delete multiple places from your Timeline and Location History all at once. You’ll still have the ability to delete all or part of your Timeline by date range from your Location History settings.
