Google Maps Gets New Updates to Give Users More Control Over Their Information
Google Maps has introduced new features to enhance user control over personal data. Users can now access location controls directly from the blue dot within the app, allowing them to manage location settings and enable/disable Location History.
Today, Google Maps revealed some new initiatives to give users greater control over their personal data. The navigation app has made it easier to access location controls directly from the blue dot within the app and has made it possible to remove activity associated with particular locations.
According to the company, users will soon be able to see their recent activity associated with particular locations and quickly remove their shares, visits, directions, and searches with a few taps. Let’s say you want to use the app to navigate to a bakery. You will soon have the option to view and remove all of your recent activity related to the bakery.
You will soon be able to access location controls using the Google Maps blue dot that indicates your current location. When you click on it, you can see whether you have allowed Maps to access your device’s location and whether your Location History or Timeline a feature of Maps that aids in remembering places you’ve visited is enabled.
Google says that in the upcoming weeks, the new blue dot controls and the option to remove place-related activity from Maps will begin to roll out on iOS and Android.
Additionally, Google Maps revealed that your Time will soon be saved directly on your device if you have selected to enable Location History.
Image Credit: Google
Google Maps director of Product Marlo McGriff stated in a blog post that users can “delete all or part of your information at any time or disable the setting entirely, just like before.” You always have the option to back up your data to the cloud in case you lose it or if you’re buying a new phone and are concerned about losing your current one. Your backed-up data will be automatically encrypted by us, making it unreadable by anybody—not even Google.
Additionally, the auto-delete control will now be set by default to three months when you first turn on Location History. The previous setting for this option was 18 months.
Google says that these changes will be released on iOS and Android over the course of the upcoming year. Users whose accounts are affected by this update will be notified.
