How to check your phone’s location history

Checking location history is a great way to try and recall places you’ve visited but have forgotten about. Android phones and iPhones support location history or similar features, but in some cases, these might need to be enabled first.

In addition, maps and navigation services like Google Maps and Apple Maps will also be able to track locations that you’ve navigated to. Also, all the photos you take on a modern smartphone are geotagged, which should help in identifying a location more easily.

Checking your location history on an Android smartphone

On Android smartphones, location history is tracked via Google Maps and a signed in account that has the feature enabled. When enabled, Google Maps will track the places you visit, the routes you frequent, and any trips you might have taken. All this data is placed in a timeline that you can peruse at your convenience.

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First, you need to ensure that Location History is enabled. This can be done by heading here and enabling Location History for your phone. The phone will then use Wi-Fi, GPS, and other information to track your location in the background to get your approximate location from time to time.

Once this feature is enabled, you can use the Maps app to check your location history. To do this, open Google Maps, tap your profile picture, head to ‘Timeline’, and select a day or time period for which you wish to view your location history.

If you wish to, you can edit entries by adding or deleting location data. Accuracy can also be improved by enabling Web and App Activity tracking, as well as by manually confirming the locations you’ve been to.

Checking your location history on an iPhone

While you can use Google Maps to track location history, Apple devices generally don’t allow Google Maps to track your location in real-time while the app is closed. This limits tracking to the times when you’re using the app or performing an action via a Google service while you’re signed in.

iPhones do have a built-in tracking feature, however, that you can use in a similar fashion to Location History on Android. Head to Settings, then to ‘Privacy and Security > Location Services’. Tap System Services, select Significant Locations and ensure that this is turned on. You’ll need to authenticate access via Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. 

Once authenticated, you will see a map of the significant locations you’ve visited. This data can be deleted if you wish it. Apple’s data isn’t as granular as Google Maps data, but it is usually sufficient.

Tracking location data in real-time can be a privacy issue for a lot of people. Thankfully, both Google and Apple have taken a lot of steps to ensure that this data is private and secure. Both offer options to edit, disable, and outright block location tracking services if you so wish.