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Mar 7, 2025

Timeline history is missing

I went to check my timeline history today and my entire history is missing, back in the summer I believe I transferred everything over to my phone to be local, and it's set up so there is no auto delete. I used it recently but now everything is missing except for the past 5 hours.

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Location (blue dot, sharing, Timeline),Android

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Joshua Nathan

4 hr. ago

Google sent out an email today informing users that THEY deleted our timelines and saying oops, sorry.

It took me a few tries but I was finally able to get the backup restore to work. I hope this works for others as it has for me.

Gold Product Expert Andres Vargas Arevalo (andres_twins) recommended this

Helpful?

All Replies (152)

Vishal Saini

Silver Product Expert

Mar 7, 2025

Timeline data deleted by the system cannot be recovered, Whether the reason for this was your mistake or not understanding the email sent by Google, the title of which was Keep your Timeline? Decide by Date-Month-Year (As per the email you received).

(Additionally, when you first turn on Location History, the auto-delete control will be set to three months by default, which means that any data older than that will be automatically deleted. Previously this option was set to 18 months. If you want to save memories to your Timeline for a longer period, don’t worry — you can always choose to extend the period or turn off auto-delete controls altogether)

Help link: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/14169818?sjid=1245311977772259180-AP

Google sent you an email in March 2024 or (As per the email you received), in which everything was written, the details of which were something like this: -

You previously turned on the Timeline setting – formerly called Location History – which helps you go back in time and remember where you’ve been. With Timeline, your visits and routes are automatically saved to a map on each of your devices.

Timeline is changing and will now be created on your device. As part of this, you'll need to choose settings for your data by Date - Month - Year (As per the email you received) to avoid losing visits and routes.

How it works

Like before, your devices will continue to save your visits in Timeline when this setting is on. But starting today, if you're signed in on multiple smartphones, each device will save new visits on its own Timeline.

What you need to do

If you’d like to keep your saved visits and routes, choose your settings on your preferred smartphone by Date - Month - Year (As per the email you received). (You may first need to update the Google Maps app.)

After you do this, you’ll only be able to use Timeline in the app.

If you take no action, you may lose data. Google will try moving up to 90 days of Timeline data to the first signed-in device that you use after Date - Month - Year (As per the email you received). Your older data will be deleted. Timeline will also remain on for your account and your devices will continue saving new visits. Your visits and routes that are older than three months will be auto-deleted.

Please note that: -

1) When you move to new timeline, the date written in the email no longer holds any meaning.

2) If you are using latest version of Google Maps on your mobile then it means you are on new timeline, in that case Google will try moving up to 90 days of Timeline data as per the email received and blog.

3) Only future data is tied to the delete preference set.

TC 2839284

6 days ago

Same here and I’m beyond upset that my entire history is gone even after doing what that the email said, and getting a confirmation. I really really hope that this is a bug but the lack of news is worrying. I’m going to miss looking at my history…..

User 13879260479978592423

6 days ago

Same here 😭

Already contacted Google, no fix at the moment, apparently they act as the problem does not exist and suggest to follow their guidelines and help online 🤦🏼‍♂️

User 9695692161608098757

5 days ago

For me the Date is still Jun 2025 , but i am missing 13 years of location time line data

how about that now ?? do you still insist its not an issue but user mistake ... ?? come on I am in IT field and was saving my timeline data since google started this..

FIX IT ....! its not a user issue its a GOOGLE issue solve your mess.. .

Last edited 5 days ago

User 15486495538759947935

5 days ago

Same here. All settings are ON to retain data forever, yet history < 7th March has gone.

Edward M.

Mar 7, 2025

I'm having the same issue. I did receive the email, I did understand it. I verified I have "don't auto delete" set. Not only was my data deleted by Google, and yes that's what I believe happened, no new entries are being generated as I've traveled to several places today. Very upsetting. I'm not the only one, this is a wide spead issue.

Vince K

Mar 8, 2025

Jesus, i thought I was going crazy. I've been glued to my phone for the past two hours in despair of not knowing what is going on. I am pretty sure i did everything correctly per the email sent out and all of my timeline data is not there.

In android it shows that maps is using 790mb of storage. I will pray that my timeline is in that 790mb and an update will fix this.

Last edited Mar 8, 2025

Justin Detmar

Mar 8, 2025

This was my experience as well. I transferred the history to my phone with everything working for several weeks. yesterday I was looking at my day, there was no visits for the day. I verified my settings to have location tracking on and history to never delete. All history is missing and the day never ended up logging any activity. Today I do have entries, everything else is gone.

Kurtkd

Mar 8, 2025

I also am missing all of the historical data from my timeline. It stopped working and now is working from yesterday forward, but nothing in the past. I did receive the email from Google, and I followed the instructions (per the Google email) and I have the exact same issue that others are experiencing. So the smartass response in the post above in bold is based on incorrect assumptions and something that Google did, not us users, we did not lack understanding or make a mistake; but thanks for pointing out your lack of understanding the issue.

Kim Wheeler

Mar 8, 2025

Same issue here, all set up correctly and all my data disappeared, I didn't delete it or have auto delete on. HOWEVER

I found I'm able to "Import" the data from the cloud settings and it all reappeared. Tap the backup cloud icon, tap the three dots next to "Device name (this device)" and choose import. If anyone here hasn't already, give this a go. Seems like in my case it had just removed the data from my device and it was thankfully all there on the backup.

Justin Detmar

Mar 8, 2025

Thank you Kim! Looks like I still lost 3/6 and 3/7, but way better than everything!

Steven Goobie

Original Poster

Mar 9, 2025

At this point I'm assuming I've lost everything which I'm very disappointed and angry about. I set everything up the way Google emailed me to during the change over last year, put my trust in that. My backups didn't actually back up anything so it just have made a backup of the state where everything was gone. Now what do I get for it, all my data gone, my mileage logs for my business.

Going forward I don't even know if I want to even buy Google products anymore because everything is just getting worse or not supported or shutdown.

Last edited Mar 9, 2025

Kurtkd

Mar 9, 2025

I tried restoring by using the import and it only gave me back 3/4/25 and 3/5/25. All other previous dates are still missing!

Last edited Mar 9, 2025

Vishal Saini

Silver Product Expert

Mar 9, 2025

Please try to Import data, If backup option was enabled, to check data availability, that is a new option, for that you have to tap the cloud button - Three dots - Import

Edward M.

Mar 9, 2025

The good news: I was able to Import from a previous backup, using a secondary device, which restored all my data, except for 3/6 & 3/7. The bad news: New entries are still not being generated. I have the same issue as in this post: https://support.google.com/maps/thread/329437149/maps-timeline-gone-and-not-updating-new

Vishal Saini

Silver Product Expert

Mar 9, 2025

Before doing any experiment please be ensure that back is active on your phone

Clear the cache from Google Maps - Clear all data - Uninstall Maps app - Reinstall Maps app - Probably it will work after 24 - 48 Hours, actually its writing the all-new data, but it’s not displaying i.e lines on dates, same thing happens when we do factory rest, i had same issue

cvick

Mar 9, 2025

My all timeline is also gone.

I have my timeline backups turned on since last year when I received the email from google, and I have auto delete turned off.

I tried to import data from backup on other device and there is data only for yesterday. I have also export timeline.json from device but it is only 124KB, so I assume that all data is gone, because I see that phone make last backup of timeline yesterday when I charged phone.

Vishal Saini

Silver Product Expert

Mar 9, 2025

Some users are claiming that they are again able to view the missing timeline, so you must wait for few days if it’s an issue, otherwise Timeline data deleted by the system cannot be recovered.

Google Takeout, is an online Google account (not device) tool that allows users to download Google account data including location history (Your Timeline data if you haven't started using the new version of Timeline), now it’s timeline. Takeout data can’t be imported to Google Maps Timeline

User 13082229183982271727

Mar 9, 2025

Your suggested resolution:

"Before doing any experiment please be ensure that back is active on your phone

As others have already stated, I followed the original email instructions exactly to create the on-device timeline, set history to never delete and backup on. I did all of this back in March of last year and everything was working fine until 2 days ago when all of my years of history disappeared. The fact that now "...it's writing the all-new data..." is not the issue, it's the fact that the history has gone.

I've now tried to use the newly available import option as you've also suggested, but all it does is import the last two days which I had anyway which I guess means my full history backup was overwritten with an almost empty backup created sometime in the last 24/48 hours.

Thanks Google. What a mucking fess.

Cameron Russell 9770

Mar 9, 2025

i generally only need the last few weeks, but everything is gone. local storage, backup, everything.

Steven Goobie

Original Poster

Mar 9, 2025

I'm basically where you are. What I don't understand is why when I imported my backup to another old phone I had it only had a backup of the last 30 days and not actually my full history when I set it up for never delete.

When I use the import option I only get the past 3 days now.

I expect nothing but problems from Google going forward with all my devices because it seems like that's how it's going.

User 7911365470235208176

Mar 11, 2025

Kim ... Can you provide a step by step with pics PLEASE . I'm just not seeing it.

Thank you

Vince K

Mar 12, 2025

I imported data on the cloud into my old device only to got a few more days in... that being said, I love how people are suggesting to delete data in maps when our "timeline back up" we had made is stored on our devices per the email in no longer on the cloud... figure it out google

I still can't believe google let this happen... like how did someone over there not see that their new update was going to overwrite everyone's local file backup they made us store on our devices with the file from their updated "maps"

My timeline was the greatest tool for repeat out of state/country visits since 2014. Least you could do is actually come on and say you messed up

Last edited Mar 12, 2025

Steven Bailie

Mar 12, 2025

@Vince, correct, it appears to me that the Maps app "bug" that Vishal keeps half-implying exists (if one even does indeed exist, I still haven't seen any actually confirmation from actual Google themselves about this - just radio silence) has not only deleted pre-March 7th from the local devices, but also has caused previously-successful "Cloud Backups" to over OVERWRITTEN with a backup containing no data from before March 7th...

At least this definitely seems to be the case for me because:

Doing an import of this cloud backup to a different new device contains no data from before March 7th.
And I know for a certainty that that SAME cloud backup USED to contain a decade of timeline data, because in November last year I did a factory reset of my device and all the data was loaded successfully after importing.

So I worry that, regardless of whatever is "fixed" in the Maps application going forward in the coming days - for me and many others it might not make a blind bit of difference - as the data in the backup on Google's servers has gone, and could only possibly be restored by Google themselves in the back-end (e.g. Internally restore a March 6th backup and enable users like me to be able to "import" that data).

And having Vishal replying to everyone on this forum, half-implying that a Google development team 'may' be looking into it (when AFAIK he is not an employee and has no more information than we do...) is *not at all* reassuring... As explained, I think this issue is going to require manual intervention to re-consolidate/make available each users' last successful backup pre-March 7th...

User 13082229183982271727

Mar 13, 2025

Steven Bailie: I couldn't agree more, thank-you for a very accurate "State Of The Nation"

Last edited Mar 13, 2025

User 17358552948606767267

Mar 13, 2025

Having exactly the same issue, widely reported in press and on Reddit. Have followed similar steps to others and still unable to view anything 7th March and prior.

Google has deleted the data or a bug to not see it. Really messed up the feature and MY data!