Google Timeline location purge causes collateral damage

Google is migrating Maps Timeline/Location History to on-device storage with a default three-month retention and optional user-only-encrypted cloud backups, framed as a privacy improvement amid geofence warrant concerns. The staggered rollout, defaults, and limited communication have led some users to lose historical location data and related features, causing frustration—especially for those relying on Timeline—while Google’s continued location-related data collection via other services raises questions about mixed privacy messaging.