Google Maps Timeline Data Loss
Over the weekend, users noticed their Timelines went missing.
Google seems to have noticed, too, as The Register has seen multiple social media posts in which Timelines users share an email from the search and ads giant in which it admits “We briefly experienced a technical issue that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people.”
The email goes on to explain that most users that availed themselves of a feature that enables encrypted backups will be able to restore their Maps Timelines data.
Users who did not make those backups can’t restore their data. Those who did make backups need to manually restore their info using a procedure Google included in its email.
Via Nick Heer:
Once again, Google provides no explanation for why it is incapable of reliably storing user data, and no customer support.
It seems this was the data that Google was trying to get users to move to their own devices. Originally, it said it would keep the data in the cloud until December 2024. But then the date was changed to May 18, 2025. Now, in March, some of the data has been deleted from the cloud and from users’ devices.
This non-apology is such a joke. I switched to local device storage in December after receiving the email even though it said I had until May to do it. Apparently I didn’t turn on cloud backup. Probably because I figured it would be fine to do it later as long as it was before the May deadline. But it seems they deleted my data from their servers straight away? How have they managed to delete data stored on my phone? This sucks so much and is concerning given how much I rely on other Google products. Shocking mistake to make and then just say “oopsie.”
Previously:
- Google Maps Is Killing Timeline for Web
- Google Cloud Accidentally Deletes Customer’s Account
- Google Account Deleted Due to CSAM False Positive
- Relying on Google Cloud
- Google Docs Data Loss
