Guide
Google Maps Timeline disappeared, empty or not working?
"My Google Maps Timeline disappeared" covers three different problems, and they are not fixed the same way. One is a change in where the data lives and costs you nothing. One deleted data on a published date. One was a bug. Work out which applies to you before you go looking for a fix, because two of the three have no fix and the third takes about a minute.
Find your symptom
My Timeline is empty, or says "No visits for this day"
Every date blank, going back years, on a phone you have not changed: that is one of the two 2025 events — the 9 June deadline or the March bug. Recoverable only if encrypted cloud backup was on.
My Timeline is missing recent trips, or stops months ago
The app looks right but an export ends abruptly: your Timeline moved to the phone and Takeout can no longer see anything recorded since. Nothing is lost — export from the device instead.
My Google Takeout location history is empty
Same cause. Takeout reads your Google Account, and since the migration your account no longer holds the recent history. Here is what it does still hold.
My Timeline is gone on a new phone
On-device storage does not follow you across handsets. The trips are still on the old phone, and only there — export them before you wipe or trade it in.
Google Maps is not saving my location history any more
Recording is a per-device setting since the migration, so a new phone, a factory reset or a set-up prompt that was dismissed all leave it off. Check Settings → Location → Location services → Timeline on Android, or Google Maps → your profile picture → Settings → Location & Privacy on iOS.
My Timeline does not show everything I did
Gaps inside an otherwise working Timeline are usually recording gaps — the phone was off, in aeroplane mode, or out of battery — not a storage problem. They cannot be filled in afterwards, which is the reason to export while the data is still there.
Cause 1 — the data moved to your phone (2024)
Starting in December 2024, Google moved Timeline storage off its servers and onto your device. This was framed as a privacy improvement — your location history is no longer held in your Google Account by default — but it has a real side effect: Google Takeout, which reads from your account, can no longer export trips recorded after the migration. If your Timeline switched over a year ago, a Takeout export today only contains that first year, and nothing since.
Nothing has been lost here. The trips are on the phone, and the section below gets them out.
In short: Takeout = your old, pre-migration history. Direct Export from your phone = everything since.
Cause 2 — the 9 June 2025 cutoff
The migration was not optional forever. Google gave users until 9 June 2025 to go through the new set-up on their device; location history still sitting in the cloud after that date was deleted. People who changed phones during that window, or who never opened the prompt, reached the deadline without having moved anything.
If this is what happened, the history is gone unless you had turned on the encrypted cloud backup that the new set-up offers. There is no export that recovers it, and no third-party tool — this one included — can bring back data Google no longer holds. What you can still do is export whatever your phone has kept since, which is usually more than people expect.
Cause 3 — the March 2025 bug
Separately from the deadline, in March 2025 a batch of users who had migrated correctly, and had auto-delete switched off, opened Timeline to find "No visits for this day" across every date going back years. Users who had enabled cloud backup could restore from it; some could not, and were offered only the option to delete. Google did not publish a figure for how many accounts were affected.
The practical lesson from both 2025 events is the same one: on-device storage means the only copy is on the handset. A phone that is lost, wiped or replaced takes the Timeline with it. If your mileage log depends on that history — as it does if you are claiming a deduction — export it periodically rather than trusting it to still be there in April.
How to get your current Timeline data
Since the data now lives on your device, you export it from your device:
Android
- Open Settings on your phone.
- Go to Location → Location services → Timeline.
- Tap Export Timeline data. This produces a
Timeline.jsonfile.
iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- Open the Google Maps app.
- Tap your profile picture → Settings → Location & Privacy.
- Find the Timeline export option and choose Save to Files.
If you need both old and recent history
Run both exports — Takeout for anything before the migration, Direct Export for everything since — and combine them. Time-mile accepts both the legacy Takeout ZIP and the new Timeline.json format, and merges them into one table sorted by date, so you don't have to reconcile two different file formats by hand. Where the two overlap, the duplicate is dropped and the more descriptive record is kept.
Running both is worth the extra step for another reason: the two files don't carry the same information. A Takeout archive names its stops and gives them a street address; a phone export identifies them by coordinates alone, and on Android usually with no name at all. Our guide to exporting a Timeline to Excel or CSV sets out what each of the three formats actually contains, and the two traps that quietly corrupt a spreadsheet built from the raw file.
If you take one thing from this page: export your Timeline now, while it is still on the handset. There is no server copy to fall back on, and the people who lost theirs in 2025 lost it without warning.
Get your history out of the phone, and keep a copy
Works with both the new Direct Export and legacy Google Takeout files, and merges the two.
Launch Time-mileFrequently asked questions
Why did my Google Maps Timeline disappear completely?
Two separate 2025 events wiped Timeline for some people. Location history still held in the cloud was deleted after the 9 June 2025 migration deadline, and separately, in March 2025, a bug emptied Timeline for users who had migrated correctly. In both cases the history is recoverable only if encrypted cloud backup had been switched on. No third-party tool can restore data Google no longer holds.
Why is my Timeline empty on my new phone?
Because since 2024 Timeline is stored on the device rather than in your Google Account, and it does not follow you to a new handset on its own. The trips are still on the old phone. Export them from there before wiping or trading it in — once the handset is gone, so is the only copy.
Why is my Google Timeline missing recent trips?
In 2024 Google moved Timeline storage off its servers and onto your device. Google Takeout reads from your account, so it can no longer export trips recorded after the migration — a Takeout export today only contains your pre-migration history.
Why is my Google Takeout Location History empty or stopping months ago?
Since the 2024 migration your recent Timeline lives on your device, not in your Google Account, so a Takeout export only shows the pre-migration history and stops around the time your Timeline switched over.
How do I export my Timeline data on Android?
Open Settings on your phone, go to Location then Location services then Timeline, and tap Export Timeline data. This produces a Timeline.json file.
How do I export my Timeline on an iPhone?
Open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture then Settings then Location & Privacy, find the Timeline export option and choose Save to Files.
Can I combine my old Takeout history with my recent trips?
Yes. Run both exports and open them in Time-mile, which accepts both the legacy Takeout ZIP and the new Timeline.json format and merges them into one table sorted by date.