How to Remove Location Tracking From Google: 12 Steps

Open Google Maps, tap your profile picture, and look at Timeline. For many people, the result is unsettling: a map of every coffee shop, clinic, office, and friend’s apartment they have visited in years, complete with arrival times and the routes between them. Nobody typed that in. The phone did it quietly, and Google kept it.

If you have searched for how to remove location tracking from Google, you have probably already found the “Location History” toggle and flipped it off. Unfortunately, that switch is only one of at least six places where Google collects where you are. Web & App Activity, per-app permissions, Wi-Fi scanning, ad settings, Maps location sharing, and your IP address each keep working after Location History is off.

We run Cure VPN, and location privacy is something our support team gets asked about almost daily. This guide walks through every switch, in the order that matters, with the exact paths for Android, iPhone, and the web. It also covers the one thing no Google setting can turn off, and what to do about it.

To remove location tracking from Google, you need to change settings in several places, not one. Turn off Timeline (formerly Location History) in your Google Account or the Maps app, delete existing Timeline data, pause or restrict Web & App Activity, turn off personalized ads, set each Google app’s location permission to “Never” or “While using,” disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning on Android, stop Maps location sharing, and remove geotags from Photos. Even after all of that, Google can still estimate your location from your IP address, which is why a VPN is the final step for people who want the complete picture handled.

Table of Contents

1. Does Google Track My Location? How It Actually Works
2. What Changed With Google Timeline in 2024 and 2025
3. 12 Steps to Remove Location Tracking From Google
4. What Each Setting Stops and What It Does Not
5. Android vs iPhone: Where the Controls Live
6. Does Turning Off Location History Stop Google Tracking?
7. Expert Insights From the Cure VPN Team
8. Statistics and Data on Google Location Tracking
9. Common Mistakes People Make
10. Best Practices for Long-Term Location Privacy
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Conclusion
13. Key Takeaways

Does Google Track My Location? How It Actually Works

Yes. Google tracks location through several independent channels, and each one has its own setting. Understanding the channels first makes the twelve steps below far less confusing.

Device sensors. When a Google app has location permission, it can read GPS, nearby Wi-Fi network names, Bluetooth beacons, and cell tower IDs. Google Location Accuracy on Android combines those signals to pin you down to a few meters, even indoors where GPS fails.

Timeline (formerly Location History). This is the feature that builds the map of places you have visited. It runs in the background, independent of whether Maps is open, as long as it is turned on and a signed-in device has location permission set to “always.”

Web & App Activity. Every search, every Maps lookup, every “restaurants near me” query is saved to your Google Account along with the location Google had at the time. In 2018, an Associated Press investigation showed that this activity stored location markers even for users who had turned Location History off. Google later changed its wording, but the mechanism still exists.

IP address. Every request your phone or laptop sends to Google carries an IP address, and IP addresses map to cities and regions. This works with location services off entirely. It is coarse compared to GPS, but it is enough to place you in a town, serve local ads, and tie sessions together.

Ads and personalization. Google’s ad systems use location signals from all of the above to decide which ads you see. The ad settings are separate from the account history settings.

Location Sharing and Photos. Maps lets you broadcast your live location to contacts, and Google Photos reads the GPS coordinates embedded in every picture your phone takes. Both are easy to forget about.

Google’s own explanation is that these signals power “personalized experiences”: traffic predictions, faster search results, reminders about a parked car. Some people find that trade acceptable. Others do not, and this guide is for them.

What Changed With Google Timeline in 2024 and 2025?

Anyone following older tutorials will notice the settings no longer match. Google restructured location tracking significantly, and the changes affect how you delete data.

In December 2023, Google announced that Timeline data would move from its servers to your device. The rollout ran through 2024, and users received notices to choose whether to keep or delete their history before a migration deadline that Google extended several times into 2025. The web-based Timeline at maps.google.com was retired as part of the same change; Timeline is now managed inside the Maps app on a phone.

Three practical consequences follow.

First, the setting was renamed. Look for Timeline rather than Location History in your Google Account and in the Maps app. Google still uses “Location History” in some help articles, so both terms appear in this guide.

Second, the default auto-delete window shrank from 18 months to 3 months for anyone who turns Timeline on now. Existing users kept their old setting unless they changed it.

Third, because the data lives on your phone, deleting it is genuinely deleting it, and Google has said it can no longer respond to so-called geofence warrants, which asked for every device present near a location at a given time. That is a real privacy improvement, even if it also means a lost phone takes your Timeline with it unless you enabled the encrypted cloud backup.

The rest of Google’s location collection, including Web & App Activity and IP-based location, did not move to the device. Those still sit on Google’s servers under your account.

12 Steps to Remove Location Tracking From Google

Work through these in order. The first five happen in your Google Account and apply everywhere you are signed in. Steps 6 through 10 are device-specific. Steps 11 and 12 close the gaps the others leave.

1. Turn Off Timeline (Location History)

This is the setting most people mean when they ask how to turn off Google location tracking.

On Android or iPhone (Maps app):

1. Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture in the top right.
2. Tap Your timeline.
3. Tap the cloud icon or the three-dot menu, then Timeline settings or Location & privacy settings.
4. Under Timeline, tap Timeline is on and choose Turn off (or Turn off and delete activity if you want to clear it in the same step).

On the web:

1. Go to myaccount.google.com and open Data & privacy.
2. Under History settings, select Timeline (older accounts may still see Location History).
3. Turn it off. Google may direct you to a signed-in phone to complete the change, since Timeline data now lives on the device.

Turning off Timeline stops new places from being saved. It does not delete what is already there, which is the next step.

2. Delete Your Existing Timeline and Maps Location History

Whether you want to delete all location history from Google or just remove a few places visited, the Maps app handles both.

Delete everything:

1. In Maps, tap your profile picture → Your timeline.
2. Open the three-dot menu → Timeline settings (or Location & privacy settings).
3. Scroll to Delete all Timeline data and confirm.

Delete a date range:
Same menu, choose Delete Timeline data within a date range, set the dates, and confirm.

Remove a single place from Google Timeline:

1. Navigate to the day in Timeline.
2. Tap the place, then the three-dot menu next to it.
3. Choose Remove or Delete day.

If you enabled Timeline cloud backup during the 2024 migration, also delete the backup from the same settings menu. Otherwise, the encrypted copy stays with Google until you do.

3. Set Auto-Delete for Anything You Keep

Some people want Timeline for the parked-car reminder or the year-in-review map but not a permanent archive. Auto-delete splits the difference.

In the same Timeline settings menu, tap Auto-delete and choose 3, 18, or 36 months. For most privacy-conscious users who keep Timeline on at all, 3 months is the sensible pick. Google applies the same auto-delete options to Web & App Activity, covered next, so set both.

4. Pause or Restrict Web & App Activity

This is the setting the 2018 AP investigation was about, and it is still the one most people miss.

1. Go to myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols (or Data & privacy → History settings → Web & App Activity).
2. Either turn Web & App Activity off entirely, or leave it on and uncheck Include Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services.
3. Set Auto-delete to 3 months if you leave it on.
4. Click Manage all Web & App Activity to review and delete what is already saved. You can delete by day, by product, or everything with a custom range.

Turning this off means Google Assistant, Search personalization, and Maps recommendations become less tailored. In exchange, Google stops attaching a location stamp to every search you make.

5. Turn Off Personalized Ads and Location-Based Ad Signals

Google’s ad system draws on location from every source above. Removing the history does not automatically stop ads from using it going forward.

1. Visit myadcenter.google.com.
2. Turn Personalized ads off.
3. While you are there, open Manage privacy and review what Google has inferred about you, including regions it associates with your account.

With personalized ads off, you will still see ads, but they will be based on the page you are viewing and your approximate IP location rather than your history.

6. Review Location Permissions for Every Google App on Android

Account settings decide what Google saves. App permissions decide what the phone hands over in the first place. Both matter.

1. Open Settings → Location → App location permissions (the wording varies slightly by manufacturer; Samsung places it under Settings → Location → App permissions).
2. Find each Google app: Maps, Google, Chrome, Photos, Assistant, Fit, Gmail.
3. For each one, choose Allow only while using the app, Ask every time, or Don’t allow. Avoid Allow all the time unless you have a specific reason.
4. On Android 12 and newer, toggle Use precise location off for apps that only need your general area. Weather and news apps rarely need better than a few hundred meters.

Android’s Privacy Dashboard (Settings → Privacy → Privacy dashboard on Android 12+) shows which apps accessed location in the last 24 hours. Check it after making changes to confirm the background access has stopped.

7. Disable Google Location Accuracy, Wi-Fi Scanning, and Bluetooth Scanning

These three Android settings let the phone locate you even when GPS is off, by comparing nearby network names and Bluetooth devices against Google’s database.

1. Open Settings → Location → Location services (on some phones, tap the gear or Advanced).
2. Turn off Google Location Accuracy (sometimes labeled Improve Location Accuracy).
3. Turn off Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning.

Expect indoor navigation and some “find nearby” features to get worse. Emergency Location Service, which shares location with emergency responders during a call, is a separate toggle in the same menu, and most people should leave it on.

8. Fix Google Apps on iPhone

iPhone users sometimes assume Apple’s privacy controls handle Google for them. Apple limits what apps can access, but your Google Account settings from Steps 1 through 5 still apply, because Google’s servers do the saving.

Per-app location on iOS:

1. Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services.
2. Tap Google Maps, then choose Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, or While Using the App. Avoid Always.
3. Turn Precise Location off for any Google app that does not need street-level accuracy.
4. Repeat for Google, Chrome, Gmail, Photos, and YouTube.

App tracking:
Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking and turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track. This blocks the advertising identifier that ad networks, including Google’s, use to link activity across apps.

One aside for completeness: Significant Locations under Location Services → System Services is Apple’s own history feature, not Google’s. Clearing it is a good idea, but it does not affect your Google Account.

9. Stop Google Maps Location Sharing

Location sharing is a deliberate feature, but people forget they set it up for a trip or a family member years ago.

1. In Maps, tap your profile picture → Location sharing.
2. Review everyone listed. Tap each person and choose Stop.
3. Check the Sharing with you tab as well, since it shows who is broadcasting to you.

Sharing does not depend on Timeline. Turning Timeline off in Step 1 leaves any active shares running.

10. Remove Location From Google Photos and Chrome

Photos and Chrome are two quieter sources that survive the earlier steps.

Google Photos:

• To stop future geotags at the source: on Android, go to Settings → Apps → Camera → Permissions → Location → Don’t allow. On iPhone, set the Camera’s location permission to Never.
• To strip location from existing uploads: open Photos → profile picture → Photos settings → Sharing and turn off Hide photo location data for shared items. To remove location from an individual photo, open it, tap the info icon, and edit or remove the location.

Chrome:

• On desktop, go to chrome://settings/content/location and switch to Don’t allow sites to see your location, or review the allowed list and remove entries.
• On mobile, Chrome → Settings → Site settings → Location.

Google Fit, if you use it, has its own activity tracking that records routes for walks and runs. Its data controls sit inside the Fit app under Profile → Settings → Manage your data.

11. Run a Privacy Checkup and Remove Old Devices

Old phones and tablets still signed into your account can keep reporting location long after you stopped using them.

1. Go to myaccount.google.com → Security → Your devices → Manage all devices.
2. Sign out of anything you no longer use or recognize.
3. Return to Data & privacy and run Privacy Checkup. It walks through Timeline, Web & App Activity, YouTube History, and ad settings in one pass, which is handy for confirming Steps 1 through 5 took effect.
4. Open Google Dashboard (myaccount.google.com/dashboard) to see a product-by-product summary of what the account still holds.

A compromised account defeats every setting on this list, because whoever holds the login can turn tracking back on. If you have ever dealt with an account takeover, whether Google or a case like WhatsApp Hacked through SIM swapping, the recovery steps look familiar: revoke sessions, rotate the password, and turn on two-factor authentication before doing anything else.

12. Hide Your IP Address, Because No Google Setting Can

Every step so far restricts what your device reports and what Google saves. None of them changes the one signal that travels with every single request: your IP address.

An IP address reveals your city and often your neighborhood-level area, along with your ISP. Google uses it for search results, ad targeting, and fraud detection whether or not location services are on. Turn off everything above, open Google in a private window, and it will still show you weather for your town.

A VPN replaces your IP with the VPN server’s IP. Google then sees the server’s location instead of yours, and the connection between your searches and your physical address breaks. The same mechanism is why people use a VPN to access region-locked streams, such as those covered in our guide on How to Watch IPL on JioCinema, though the privacy use is the more important one for this article.

Two things matter when choosing a VPN for this purpose. The provider must not keep logs that reconstruct the very trail you are trying to erase, and the app itself must not request location permissions it does not need. Cure VPN runs its servers from RAM with no persistent storage, so there is nothing to retain, and the app never asks for device location. Anything less than that just moves the tracking problem from Google to the VPN company.

Free options deserve extra scrutiny here. Many of the apps that show up in searches for the best free VPN service fund themselves by collecting and selling the location and browsing data of their users, which is the opposite of what this guide is trying to achieve.

What Each Setting Stops and What It Does Not?

This table is the single most useful thing to screenshot from this guide. It answers the question most tutorials skip: what did I actually turn off?

Setting	Where	What It Stops	What It Does NOT Stop
Timeline (Location History) off	Google Account / Maps app	Background recording of places visited	Location stamps in Web & App Activity, IP-based location, app permissions, ads
Delete Timeline data	Maps app	Removes existing place history from device and backup	Future collection if Timeline is still on
Web & App Activity off	Google Account	Location saved with searches, Maps lookups, Assistant queries	Timeline, IP location, per-app device access
Personalized ads off	My Ad Center	Ads targeted using your history and profile	Ads based on current page and approximate IP location
App permission “Never” / “Don’t allow”	Android / iOS settings	That app reading device location at all	Other Google apps, IP location, account-level history from other devices
Wi-Fi & Bluetooth scanning off	Android settings	Location estimates from nearby networks when GPS is off	GPS when an app has permission, IP location
Location Sharing stopped	Maps app	Live broadcast of your position to contacts	Everything else
Camera location permission off	Device settings	Geotags in new photos	Location already embedded in old photos
VPN	Cure VPN app	IP-based city/region location on every request	Device GPS if you grant an app permission; anything you type into Google

Notice that no single row covers everything. That is the honest reason a twelve-step guide exists for what sounds like a one-toggle question.

Android vs iPhone: Where the Controls Live

The Google Account steps are identical on both platforms. The device-level steps differ, and the table below lines them up.

Task	Android	iPhone
Per-app location permission	Settings → Location → App location permissions	Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → [app]
Precise vs approximate location	Per-app toggle “Use precise location” (Android 12+)	Per-app toggle “Precise Location” (iOS 14+)
Background location control	“Allow all the time” vs “Only while using”	“Always” vs “While Using the App”
Network-based location	Settings → Location → Location services → Wi-Fi / Bluetooth scanning, Google Location Accuracy	Managed by iOS; no user-facing Google toggle
See which apps used location recently	Settings → Privacy → Privacy dashboard	Location Services shows arrow indicators; App Privacy Report under Privacy & Security
Advertising identifier	Settings → Google → Ads → Delete advertising ID	Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → off
Camera geotagging	Camera app permissions → Location → Don’t allow	Location Services → Camera → Never

Android gives you more granular control over Google’s network-based location because Google builds the operating system. iOS restricts background access more aggressively by default but offers fewer Google-specific switches. On either platform, the account settings do the heavy lifting.

Does Turning Off Location History Stop Google Tracking?

No. Turning off Location History (now Timeline) stops Google from building a map of places you visit. It does not stop Google from recording location alongside searches through Web & App Activity, it does not change app permissions on your device, it does not affect ad personalization, and it does not hide your IP address.

This distinction is not a technicality. It was the basis of the multistate lawsuit that ended in November 2022 with Google agreeing to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 US state attorneys general, who argued that users were misled into believing the Location History toggle controlled all location tracking. Google agreed to make the settings clearer as part of that agreement, which is partly why the current controls are more spread out and better labeled than they were.

To stop Google from tracking your location in a meaningful sense, you need Steps 1 through 12, not Step 1 alone.

Expert Insights From the Cure VPN Team

A handful of observations from helping users work through these settings and from examining how location data actually flows.

The order matters more than people expect. Turning off Timeline before deleting it sometimes leaves the “delete” option harder to find, because the Timeline screen changes once the feature is off. Delete first, then turn off, and you avoid hunting through menus.

Old devices are the most common leak. We have seen users complete every step on their current phone, then discover a tablet in a drawer, still signed in, still with Maps set to “Allow all the time,” quietly reporting the house’s location every day. Step 11 exists because of how often this happens.

IP location is more precise than most people think. The assumption is that an IP address places you somewhere in a large city. In practice, residential ISP address blocks often resolve to a specific suburb or district. For someone in a smaller town, an IP address can be uniquely identifying on its own. That is the strongest argument for treating a VPN as part of location privacy rather than a separate topic.

VPN apps should be held to the same standard as Google. Developers building privacy products, including teams pursuing White label VPN Development, need to audit their own apps for location permission requests, analytics SDKs that collect coarse location, and logging that records connecting IP addresses. A VPN that asks for location permission on install has misunderstood its own job. We designed Cure VPN’s apps to run with no location permission at all, and we would recommend any privacy-conscious user check that before trusting a provider.

Corporate devices follow different rules. On a work phone managed by an employer, some of these settings may be locked, and the company’s mobile device management may collect location independently of Google. Employees in that situation should read the device policy rather than assume the Google settings tell the whole story. Organizations deploying a Business VPN for remote staff should be equally transparent about what the corporate tunnel does and does not log.

Decentralized alternatives shift the trust, not the problem. Peer-to-peer and blockchain-based Decentralized VPNs remove the single provider who could theoretically log your IP, which is appealing. However, your traffic then exits through nodes run by unknown parties, and the exit node sees your destination just as an ISP would. For hiding location from Google specifically, a reputable no-logs provider with RAM-only servers is the more predictable choice.

The 2024 Timeline change was a genuine win. We are usually skeptical of big-tech privacy announcements, but moving Timeline to the device and ending geofence warrant responses is a substantive improvement. Credit where it is due, while noting that Web & App Activity and IP location remain server-side.

Statistics and Data on Google Location Tracking

Context for why these settings deserve attention. Sources named for citation.

• Google agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 US states in November 2022 over location tracking practices, described by the attorneys general involved as the largest multistate privacy settlement in US history at that time. Separate settlements followed with Arizona ($85 million, 2022) and with California, Indiana, and Washington ($29.5 million, 2023).
• Texas announced a roughly $1.4 billion settlement with Google in May 2025, covering claims about location tracking, Incognito mode, and biometric data collection, according to the Texas Attorney General’s office.
• The 2018 Associated Press investigation, verified by computer science researchers at Princeton, found that Google services stored location data through Web & App Activity even when Location History was paused. That reporting triggered the state investigations above.
• Geofence warrants made up roughly a quarter of all US warrants Google received in 2020, with about 11,500 such requests that year, based on Google’s own disclosed figures reported by TechCrunch. Google’s move of Timeline to on-device storage in 2024 effectively ended its ability to answer them.
• Default auto-delete for Timeline dropped from 18 months to 3 months for new users as part of Google’s December 2023 announcement, per Google’s Keyword blog.
• 81% of Americans say they are concerned about how companies use the data collected about them, and 67% say they understand little or nothing about what companies do with it, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in October 2023.
• Android runs on roughly seven in ten smartphones worldwide, per StatCounter’s mobile operating system market share data, which means Google’s location settings affect the majority of phone users globally, including large user bases in India, Brazil, and across Europe.
• Google Maps serves more than one billion monthly users, according to figures Google has cited publicly, making Timeline one of the largest personal location archives ever created.

Common Mistakes People Make

Stopping at the Timeline toggle. This is the mistake the lawsuits were about. It stops one channel out of six.

Turning off Timeline without deleting the history. The toggle prevents new entries. Years of existing data remain until you delete them.

Ignoring Web & App Activity. Searches carry location stamps. If this stays on, Google still knows where you were when you searched for a pharmacy at 2 AM.

Leaving “Allow all the time” on for Maps. Background location is only needed for Timeline and live sharing. Once those are off, “While using” covers navigation completely.

Forgetting the second phone, the tablet, or the old laptop. Any signed-in device with permissions still reports.

Assuming iPhone means Google cannot track you. Apple limits app access; it does not change what your Google Account stores from the apps you do allow.

Treating a VPN as the whole solution. A VPN hides your IP. It does nothing about GPS data your phone hands to Maps if you left the permission on. The steps work together.

Installing a free VPN to fix a privacy problem. Several free VPN apps have been documented selling user data or requesting location permissions. That trades one tracker for another.

Checking settings once and never again. Google redesigns these menus regularly, and app updates sometimes re-request permissions. A yearly review takes ten minutes.

Best Practices for Long-Term Location Privacy

1. Delete first, then disable. Clear Timeline and Web & App Activity before turning them off, so the delete options stay easy to find.
2. Set every Google app to “While using” or “Never.” Grant “Always” only for a specific, temporary reason, and revoke it afterward.
3. Use approximate location wherever precise is not required. Weather, news, and most shopping apps work fine at neighborhood-level accuracy.
4. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning on Android unless you rely on indoor navigation.
5. Keep auto-delete at 3 months for any Google history you choose to keep.
6. Audit devices twice a year. Sign out of anything you no longer hold.
7. Run Privacy Checkup after major Android or iOS updates. Updates occasionally reset or re-prompt permissions.
8. Run a no-logs VPN on the devices where you use Google most. Choose one with RAM-only servers and no location permission in the app. Gamers sometimes worry about the latency cost of leaving a VPN on; our guide on whether a VPN can increase your ping explains when that concern is real and when it is not.
9. Separate accounts for separate purposes. A Google Account used only for Maps navigation, with Timeline and Web & App Activity off, limits how much any single profile reveals.
10. Read the permission prompt every time. Apps ask for location far more often than they need it. Declining is almost always fine.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I remove location tracking from Google?

Turn off Timeline (Location History) and delete its data in the Google Maps app, turn off or restrict Web & App Activity at myaccount.google.com, disable personalized ads in My Ad Center, set each Google app’s location permission to “While using” or “Never” on your phone, turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning on Android, stop Maps location sharing, and use a VPN to hide your IP address.

Does Google track my location?

Yes. Google collects location through Timeline, Web & App Activity, per-app device permissions, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning on Android, ad personalization systems, Maps location sharing, photo geotags, and the IP address attached to every request. Each has a separate control.

How do I turn off Google location tracking on Android?

Open Google Maps → profile picture → Your timeline → Timeline settings → turn Timeline off. Then go to phone Settings → Location → App location permissions and set Google apps to “Only while using” or “Don’t allow.” Finally, under Settings → Location → Location services, turn off Wi-Fi scanning, Bluetooth scanning, and Google Location Accuracy.

How do I stop Google from tracking my location on iPhone?

Turn off Timeline and Web & App Activity in your Google Account, then go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services and set Google Maps, Google, Chrome, and other Google apps to “While Using the App” or “Never,” with Precise Location off. Also disable “Allow Apps to Request to Track” under Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking.

How do I delete my Google location history?

Open Google Maps → profile picture → Your timeline → three-dot menu → Timeline settings → Delete all Timeline data. You can also delete a date range or remove individual places from a specific day. If you enabled cloud backup, delete the backup from the same menu.

Does turning off Location History stop Google tracking?

No. It stops Timeline from recording places you visit. Web & App Activity, app permissions, ad personalization, and IP-based location continue until you change each one separately.

Can Google track my location when location services are off?

Yes, approximately. With location services off, Google cannot read GPS, but it still receives your IP address with every request, which reveals your city or region. On Android, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning can also estimate location if left on. A VPN hides the IP component.

How long does Google keep location history?

It depends on your auto-delete setting. Timeline defaults to 3 months for users who turned it on after late 2023; older accounts may still be set to 18 months or “keep until I delete.” Web & App Activity defaults to 18 months for accounts created since 2020. You can set either to 3 months or delete manually.

Can I permanently delete Google location data?

Yes. Deleting Timeline data removes it from your device and, if enabled, the encrypted backup. Deleting Web & App Activity removes those records from your account. Google states that deleted activity is removed from its systems, though it may retain aggregated, non-identifying data for service operation.

How do I know if Google is tracking me?

Open Google Maps → profile picture → Your timeline. If you see a history of places, Timeline is on. Then visit myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols to check Web & App Activity, and check your phone’s location permissions for Google apps. On Android 12+, the Privacy dashboard shows recent location access by app.

Does Google Maps save my location?

Google Maps saves visited places when Timeline is on and saves searched and viewed places through Web & App Activity. It also stores any active location shares. Turning off Timeline and Web & App Activity and stopping shares prevents Maps from keeping a record.

How do I stop Google Maps from tracking me without breaking navigation?

Set Maps’ location permission to “While using the app” rather than “Always,” turn off Timeline, and stop any location sharing. Navigation only needs location while the app is open, so directions keep working.

Does a VPN stop Google from tracking my location?

A VPN hides your IP address, which removes the location signal Google gets from every request regardless of settings. It does not override device GPS data if you grant a Google app permission. Combine a no-logs VPN with the account and device settings above for complete coverage.

What is the difference between Timeline and Web & App Activity?

Timeline is a background record of physical places you visit, now stored on your device. Web & App Activity is a record of your searches and app interactions, stored in your Google Account, with the location Google had at the time attached to each entry. Both need to be addressed separately.

Conclusion

Learning how to remove location tracking from Google turns out to be less about finding a hidden switch and more about knowing that there are a dozen of them. Timeline gets the attention, and the 2024 move to on-device storage made it a better feature than it used to be. Even so, Web & App Activity, per-app permissions, network scanning, ad settings, live sharing, photo metadata, and forgotten devices each keep a piece of the picture until you close them one by one.

The one piece no setting touches is your IP address. It travels with every request to Google, resolves to your neighborhood more often than people expect, and stays visible after every other toggle is off. That is the gap a VPN closes, provided the VPN itself is not logging what Google no longer can.

Cure VPN was built with that requirement in mind: RAM-only servers that retain nothing, WireGuard by default, and apps that never ask for your location because they have no reason to know it. If you have worked through the twelve steps above, the last one takes about a minute.

Finish the job. Hide your IP with Cure VPN →