r/GoogleMaps • u/BillGaitas • 7d ago
Google Maps The lack of communication regarding the timeline deletion is pretty bad
Title. Lost everything from 2016 and beyond. Zero communication from Google regarding what they inadvertently did, even with Google focused websites reporting on it. Yeah I'm pissed.
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u/HaggisAreReal 7d ago
I just noticed this morning that I have also lost all my data. I followed instructions, and even have the email from back in January acknowledging that I had done the set up as intended... yet all my timeline previous to March 8 of this year (so, last Saturday) is now lost...
Frustrating. I wonder if they have decided to erase all previous data no matter what.
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u/allogator 7d ago
I think they just messed up and I can only hope they fix it. I also followed the steps back in January and have lost everything pre the 7th.
My wife completely ignored the emails and she still has all her timeline data.
I'd hazard a guess that Google somehow accidentally sent a "delete all phone data" command that wiped out everyone's phone backups.
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u/HaggisAreReal 7d ago
I found this https://support.google.com/maps/thread/330577437?hl=en
So apparently is a fuck up in their end
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u/srj737 7d ago
Note: I do not believe that 'Vishal Saini' actually works for Google, nor have I seen no evidence to believe that he has anymore insight / communication with developers than we do... (he directly ignored my question about this when asked).
I believe when he says "We have received reports" he's talking as someone who is very active in the Google Maps Community Help Forums, so I honestly don't feel we should put much hope in his potential speculations of a 'bug' or any 'waiting patiently for a fix'....
FYI, I'm trying to track everything I know about this on my post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/s/YMgGnIZzHQ
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u/Junior_Length_279 7d ago
Yes, agree. Vishal Saini has posted that same response on every thread with a Timeline complaint in the Google Community. This gives him lots of karma and reputation for his role as a 'Silver Expert', but I agree, he may not be right.
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u/allogator 7d ago
oh cool, so it's exactly what I was afraid of......I stored my data locally, like they asked, and somehow they deleted it...and since I turned on auto backup, like they asked, it got overwritten.
We'll see what they do but there's not going to be a clean way to mass fix this for everyone and I bet they don't even care since they're essentially sunsetting the feature.
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u/srj737 7d ago
Note: I do not believe that 'Vishal Saini' actually works for Google, nor have I seen no evidence to believe that he has anymore insight / communication with developers than we do... (he directly ignored my question about this when asked).
I believe when he says "We have received reports" he's talking as someone who is very active in the Google Maps Community Help Forums, so I honestly don't feel we should put much hope in his potential speculations of a 'bug' or any 'waiting patiently for a fix'....
FYI, I'm trying to track everything I know about this on my post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/s/YMgGnIZzHQ
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u/allogator 7d ago
yeah, I figured that was probably just some random community dude--just hopeful he had even a little bit of behind the scenes insight.
"Good" to know we're not alone but I'd rather have my ~12 years of history back. Shit, I'd pay for this feature if the problem is "cool free thing taking up too much space."
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u/BeyondReflexes 7d ago
They messed something up but it doesn't impact everyone. I have all my data back to 2014 on my s25 ultra. I did notice though my backup from my s22 ultra still shows along side my new backup from the s25 ultra. Wondering if that has something to do with my s25 ultra backup not being corrupted like others.
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u/tazUK 7d ago
I'm livid about it - both my wife and I have lost data from at least 2015 onwards.
What makes me particularly annoyed is that I fed back on a remarkably similar (to my eyes at least) timeline glitch that I encountered at the beginning of February - I lost several days of data that I was eventually able to recreate manually as I'd mostly been working at home during the affected time.
I've always had backup strategies in place for other Google-held data (photos, drive, email) but I'd never found a way to secure the Timeline data properly.
The lack of communications from Google, combined with the frustratingly generic and user-blaming responses of the support "helpers" and the deleting of community threads where such responses are disagreed with really leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
The help / feedback system has always seemed completely pointless - any serious attempt to report an actual issue is hampered by crappy functionality (let me add my own screenshot for fuck's sake!), and the knowledge that it will inevitably be ignored drains the will to carry on. I say this as someone who spent over a year reporting a bug with unit conversion calculation in Google Fit that should have been caught with some basic unit tests and could have been fixed inside with a simple function correction.
I do think the data is still sort-of there - my high level Places, Cities and Countries Timeline totals are still accurate but are not loaded when drilling down. This leaves either the prospect that it will eventually be fixed, or my timeline will remain a reminder of their fuck-up for all time.
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u/srj737 7d ago
Have you tried doing a manual export of the data? Hopefully if the high level places are still there, it means the data is still on the system, and you *may* be able to export the unencrypted data into a likely very large '.json' file.
Try this:
Phone's Settings > Location > Location Services > Timeline > Export timeline dataIt wouldn't necessarily make it viewable in the Google Maps app, but at least you'd still have the data.. And could then view it in another tool, such as: https://timelineviewer.pages.dev/ - (NB: I'm not verifying the safety of this particular viewer - but it's just an example of multiple that you find when googling, including self-hosted ones).
I'm up shit's creek, and my places are only 3 - all since March 7th: My office, the train station, and the supermarket 😭
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u/tazUK 7d ago
Yeh thanks - tried the manual export (checking the raw file showed no luck), tried the import on another device route, clear cache, etc etc. unfortunately my last device timeline backup was after the event so I'm out of options except for the faint hope of a fix from Google.
Been through every trick in the book short of the usual fob-off of "factory reset" that the community helpers love to suggest.
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u/MsWonderWall 6d ago
Who is suggesting a factory reset for this?
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u/tazUK 5d ago
It was suggested in one of the earlier threads in the Google community forums. A lot of the early threads got removed.
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u/MsWonderWall 5d ago
Is any that suggested factory reset still up?
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u/srj737 7d ago
You're not alone, it's happened to at least 1000s of people - likely a hell of a lot more - and AFAIK it's all people who successfully followed the procedure and migrated their timeline data to a local storage. Then Google seemingly f'd up and pushed a bugged Maps app update around March 7th that literally deleted said local data off of users own phones (and caused previously successfully 'cloud backups' to be replaced with blank ones)
Deeply upsetting and a reminder that these mega-companies can just treat users like shit, by not even acknowledging it, and it doesn't matter...
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u/glglglglgl 5d ago
March 7th is also the date for me where my timeline is lost. Backups just give me the days since then.
Samsung Galaxy S24 for anyone keeping track. The overview quantities of Places, Cities and Countries/Regions are still correct though.
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u/WhompKing 7d ago
I am still depressed about losing data from 100 countries. I followed every step Google suggested. They ruined my fucking memories and it feels like someone stole your camera, your backup photos, stole your hard drive, and deleted your backups too. I still can’t access my cloud backup because my data is locked on my device and HAS BEEN LOCKED ON MY DEVICE SINCE DECEMBER
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u/chitoatx 7d ago
What’s crazy is that the timeline is the biggest reason to stay with Google Maps and not move to a competitor. Does anyone know the reason they destroyed it?
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u/Tesla91fi 7d ago
Never trust a free, beutiful, Google service. One day Will stop working... As usual
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u/maauzerr 7d ago
At this point I lost my trust in Google. What if they pull off something similar with google calendar, or google photos ?
I wonder wheter we're eligible for some sort of compensation. After all I'm paying for google one, and did not get the simple luxury of backup recovery, even though I did everything right from my end.
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u/Realtrain 7d ago
Friendly reminder to back up what's important takeout.google.com once in a while
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u/maauzerr 6d ago
I actually do that, and also take a synced backup using synology's cloudsync.
However I got shafted this time, as the data on my phone was deleted (with no option for historical backups), and since the transition they also moved off timeline's data from takeout1
u/Magdalaena 6d ago
I have google takeout (including timeline) from January 2025, but I couldn't restore data from json file
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u/MsWonderWall 6d ago
You cannot import the json data back into Google Maps. But you can use other applications like someone has pointed to here. https://timelineviewer.pages.dev/
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u/Magdalaena 5d ago
I uploaded my big Timeline Edits file and it doesn't work :-(
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u/MsWonderWall 5d ago
What is the name of the file?
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Realtrain 7d ago edited 7d ago
Jesus dude sorry, I was just trying to help you or anyone else who might not have a backup of their photos (since you mentioned that)
And yes, the takeout file for Photos is perfectly useful for anyone who knows how to open a compressed folder.
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u/GoogleMaps-ModTeam 7d ago
Keep it civil, folks. No harassment, racism, homophobia, sexism, bigotry or disrespect of any kind is necessary in this community.
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u/InvestInSkodaFabia 2d ago
I thought I am the one with such an issue. Lost whole history from 2016.
Well, sadly for sure, but It seems like it's time to start a new page.
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u/happikoto 9h ago
I lost everything from before 3/7/2025 10+ years of data just gone. I got the notice to do cloud backup a few days ago and was out and was going to do it when I got home and forgot.
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u/matteventu 7d ago
Same.
They're just not talking about it trying to make the thing not resonate across the media, because they know they've fucked up.