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How Google Maps is giving you more power over your location data

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How Google Maps is giving you more power over your location data

Google Maps has long been a gold standard in everyday navigation, whether it is hopping on public transportation or jumping in your car for a journey across town. 

In addition to giving you insight into how crowded the bus or final destination is, Google has increased user data control with features like auto-delete and incognito mode. 

Google takes it a step further with its latest updates launched this December to give you even more ease and control as you navigate your life.

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Web and app activity screen in Google Maps app (Google)

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1) Timeline saves your location and provides better control of data

Though your Location History is off by default, if you turn it on you can take advantage of the Timeline feature.

There’s so much to remember, let alone the store you visited a week ago. Just like having your search history on, having your location data on to utilize the new Timeline feature can be very helpful when you need help recollecting the specific address or location of the store or restaurant you visited while running errands the week prior. Timeline will remember the places you’ve visited for you. Here’s how to turn it off or on, depending on your preference.

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How to turn your Location History on or off

  • On your mobile device, open Google app
  • Then tap your profile picture
  • Click Google Account
  • Tap the Data & privacy tab
  • Scroll down to History settings and tap Location History
  • Tap Turn off or Turn on 

When location history is turned on, it will not only help you remember locations you’ve visited when you want, but you also have more control over what data is saved. With auto-delete, you can select a timeframe for which your location history will be automatically deleted. When your location data is on, and you set up auto-delete, the default or minimum timeframe you can set for auto-deletion is 3 months. This way, you don’t have to remember to go back and delete your location data. Google will remember for you. Thereafter, you can choose 18 months or 36 months.

How to Auto-delete Your Location History on Google Maps

  • Open the Google Maps app on your mobile device
  • Click on your profile icon at the top right corner
  • Tap on Your Timeline
  • Then tap on the three dots in the right corner of your screen
  • Tap settings and privacy 
  • Tap on Location History settings and then tap on Auto-delete
  • Choose the timeframe you want to keep your location history for: 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months. You can also choose Don’t auto-delete activity if you want to keep your location history indefinitely.
  • Tap on Next and then confirm your choice by tapping on Confirm.

Google will automatically delete your location history older than the timeframe you selected. You can change or turn off this setting anytime you want.

A Google Maps timeline  (Google)

How to delete your Location History on Google Maps

You may also want to delete some or all of your location history for various reasons, such as privacy, security, or storage. Here’s how to delete your entire location history, a specific time range, a single day, or a single place from your Google Maps app on your mobile device.

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How to delete all Location History

You may want to delete your entire location history on Google Maps for privacy or security reasons. To do this, follow these steps.

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  • On your mobile device, open the Google Maps app
  • Tap your profile picture or initial 
  • Click Your Timeline 
  • In the top right, tap the 3 horizontal dots
  • Then tap Settings and privacy
  • Click Location History settings, tap Delete all Location History
  • Follow the on-screen instructions

How to delete a range of Location History

You can also choose to delete a specific period of your location history, such as a week or a month, by following these steps.

  • On your mobile device, open the Google Maps app 
  • Tap your profile picture or initial
  • Click Your Timeline 
  • Tap the three horizontal dots in the upper right of the screen
  • Click Settings and privacy
  • Under “Location settings,” tap Delete Location History range
  • Follow the on-screen instructions

How to delete a day from Location History

Sometimes, you may want to delete a single day of your location history, for example, if you visited a sensitive or personal place. To remove a single day from your location history, you can select the date from the calendar and delete it with these steps. 

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  • On your mobile device, open the Google Maps app 
  • Tap your profile picture or initial 
  • Click Your Timeline 
  • Tap Show calendar 
  • Select which day you want to delete
  • Tap the three horizontal dots in the upper right of the screen
  • Click Delete day
  • Follow the on-screen instructions

How to delete a stop from Location History

If you only want to delete a certain place that you visited, such as a restaurant or a shop, you can find it in the list of places and remove it with these steps. 

  • Open the Google Maps app on your mobile device
  • Tap your profile icon at the top right corner
  • Click Your timeline
  • Tap Places, then view all visited places
  • Tap the three-dot menu next to a location and select Remove all visits

MORE: 5 GOOGLE MAPS TRICKS THAT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY 

2) How to remove your directions, searches, and shares on Google Maps

You can keep specifics about your whereabouts private with the ability to delete directions, searches, and shares in one place on Google Maps.

Delete directions, searches and shares on Google Maps (Google)

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To delete your directions, searches, and shares in Google Maps

  • Open the Google Maps app on your mobile device
  • Click on your profile icon at the top right corner
  • Tap on Your Timeline
  • Then tap on the three horizontal dots at the top right corner
  • Tap on Settings and privacy
  • Tap on Delete activity by and then choose the option you want: Today, Yesterday, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, All time, or Custom range
  • Tap on Next and then confirm your choice by tapping on Delete

That’s it. You have deleted your activity on Google Maps for the selected time frame. You can also delete individual activities by tapping on them and then tapping on the Trash icon.

MORE: THIS GOOGLE MAPS TRICK CAN SUPERCHARGE YOUR ABILITY TO NAVIGATE DIRECTIONS

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3) Blue Location dot gives you immediate control

When you open Google Maps, your current location is shown as a blue dot. This not only gives you a clear visual reference of your location in relation to the area around you, but now it also lets you control key location features with a few taps. With one tap, you can find out if certain settings are on, such as Location History or Timeline, and whether you’ve given Maps access to your device’s location.

Blue Dot with more control features in Google Maps (Google)

You can always review your data, and any choices you make at activity.google.com or your timeline.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Google Maps has long been a mainstay for most Android and Apple users because of the ability to get powerful data, up-to-date intel, and fluidity between desktops and phone apps. Now Google gives you even more control over your data by allowing Maps to remember specific visits and locations for you while remembering to delete consistently or specifically if necessary.

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Do you use Google Maps for daily errands or travel? Will you take advantage of Timeline and other new features to maximize Maps? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.

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Technology

Apple’s entry-level MacBook Pro could be up for a redesign

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Apple’s entry-level MacBook Pro could be up for a redesign

Apple is working on a “revamped” version of its entry-level MacBook Pro that it could launch as soon as the first half of 2027, Bloomberg reports. The company is also testing four new iPad Pros that are set to launch in the spring with a focus on “internal improvements.”

The updated MacBook Pro, which will keep the 14-inch screen size, will have a design that’s “in line” with what Apple is planning for the touch screen MacBooks it also has in the works, Bloomberg says. Those new touch screen laptops are set to be released between “the end of this year and early next year,” and Bloomberg has previously reported that they will get a Dynamic Island-like pill at the top of the screen.

Apple last updated the base MacBook Pro in October with an M5 chip bump. The company is working on an M6 processor, and Bloomberg says that Apple “finished work months ago” a different base MacBook Pro upgrade that keeps the laptop’s present design and is scheduled to launch this year. Apple will quickly move to the M7 line in 2027, including new Pro and Max chips, Bloomberg previously reported.

As for the iPad Pros, Bloomberg says that they’ll retain 11-inch and 13-inch screens. Apple last updated the iPad Pro line last October with the M5 chip.

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A missing kitten rode under a car hood. AI brought her home

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A missing kitten rode under a car hood. AI brought her home

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Ame thought Lucy might be hiding upstairs. The family’s kitten had missed dinner, which felt odd. Still, cats hide. They nap in strange places. Sometimes, they ignore everyone.

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But when breakfast came the next morning, Lucy still did not show up. “When we fed dinner one night, and she didn’t come running, I thought maybe she was upstairs in the kids’ bedroom, but when we fed breakfast the next morning, she didn’t come running again, so then I knew for sure she wasn’t in the house,” Ame said.

That is when a normal morning in Dayton, Ohio, turned into a frantic search. Lucy was less than a year old. Ame’s two young children were devastated. And wherever Lucy had gone, her family knew she had already spent the night away from home.

“If she had been out all night, we were really worried,” Ame said. Ame’s daughter, Evi, felt that fear immediately. “I was really sad and cried a lot. It was really heartbreaking,” Evi said.

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PRO WRESTLING STAR KILLER KROSS SHARES SWEET, LIFE-ALTERING MOMENT WHEN A CAT CAME INTO HIS LIFE

A missing Ohio kitten survived a ride under the hood of a stranger’s car before AI photo-matching technology helped reunite her with her family in just over 24 hours. (Photo by Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage)

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Ame uploaded Lucy’s photo and got a match

After the first wave of searching, Ame turned to Petco Love Lost. “I found out about Petco Love Lost through a friend of mine who also had a cat go missing. She said Petco Love Lost is a website where you can match from finders who have uploaded pictures of pets that they’ve found,” Ame said.

Ame created a lost pet profile and uploaded Lucy’s picture. The free nationwide database uses AI photo-matching technology to compare lost pet photos with found pet reports. Petco Love says the system looks at more than 500 visual markers to identify pets by features that stay with them wherever they go.

Then came the lead Ame needed. “It was actually very easy and quick. It was only about 10 or 12 hours before I got a lead on where Lucy might be,” Ame said.

A finder had listed a cat who looked like Lucy as found. Soon after, Ame received a photo match alert.

The price surprised her, too. “I was really surprised that Petco Love Lost is not subscription-based like most things are. It’s completely free, so it’s accessible to everyone,” she said. For a family already scared and stressed, that free access made a big difference.

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Lucy was found under a car hood

Then Ame learned where Lucy had gone. “She was stuck under the hood of somebody’s car. This person had driven to a shopping center across the highway, got out of their car and heard meowing and realized that the meowing was coming from under the hood of their car,” Ame said.

The driver got Lucy out safely. Thankfully, the kitten had not been hurt. The finder kept Lucy safe and uploaded her photo to Petco Love Lost as a found pet. That report connected with Ame’s lost pet profile.

From there, Ame could finally arrange the reunion her family had been hoping for. “I connected with the finder on Petco Love Lost and was able to message back and forth. We organized a time to meet up and we were just ecstatic, and overjoyed, and in shock that we actually found her and also that we found her so quickly and in such a short space of time. Having Lucy home is a relief,” Ame said. Ame’s family brought Lucy home a little more than 24 hours after she disappeared.

The reunion brought happy tears

For Ame’s children, Lucy’s return changed the whole mood in the house. Ame’s daughter, Evi, went from heartbreak to happy tears. “When she was found, my mom put her on my lap. I was having a little bit of some happy tears,” Evi said.

Then came the sentence every pet parent wants to hear after a scare like this. “When Lucy was found, I was so happy to have her back,” Evi said.

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That is the kind of reunion that sticks with you. A tiny kitten vanished, rode under a car hood, crossed a highway and still made it home because a finder uploaded one photo.

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An Ohio family found their missing kitten after Petco Love Lost matched a photo uploaded by a good Samaritan who discovered Lucy under a car hood. (Photo credit should read Inna Borodayeva/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Why Petco Love Lost worked when the microchip did not

Lucy’s story also shows why lost pet searches need more than one safety step. The finder tried to get Lucy scanned for a microchip. But that did not solve the problem.

“The finder took her to scan the microchip, they couldn’t even find it, they couldn’t locate it. Petco Love Lost was literally the only link between us and Lucy to get her back,” Ame said.

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That is important because many pet parents assume a microchip will always lead straight home. A microchip can help, but someone still needs access to a scanner. The chip also has to be found and connected to current contact details.

Petco Love Lost adds another option. Instead of relying only on tags or a scan, it uses a pet’s photo and physical features. Chelsea Staley, president of Petco Love, explains it this way: “Collars break, tags can fall off, and microchip scanners aren’t always immediately accessible. Petco Love Lost offers an additional layer of protection by using AI to recognize distinctive physical features that stay with pets wherever they go. You know your pet is one of a kind, and so does Petco Love Lost.” In Lucy’s case, that extra layer helped bring her back.

Why Lucy’s story matters during National Lost Pet Prevention Month

Lucy’s story hits at a time when many pet parents need the reminder. July is National Lost Pet Prevention Month. The month also brings holiday fireworks, which can scare pets and send them running. Petco Love says more pets go missing during the summer than during any other time of year, and fireworks help drive that spike. That makes Lucy’s story a good reminder to prepare before your pet bolts.

Petco Love encourages pet parents to register their pets on Petco Love Lost at petcolove.org/lost/register-pet/ while they are safe at home. Then, if something goes wrong, they can activate a search with a single click. Set it up before the fireworks start. Check it before guests come over. Take care of it before someone says, “I thought the cat was upstairs.”

What this means to you

A lost pet search can turn emotional really fast. You may be scared, tired and unsure where to start. Lucy’s story shows why preparation can help. Ame already had a clear photo of Lucy. She created a lost pet profile. Then a finder uploaded a found pet report, and the system connected them.

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That does not mean you should skip collars, ID tags or microchips. Keep those in place. However, Petco Love Lost can give you another way to search when those tools do not work fast enough. The biggest lesson is timing. Registering your pet while everything is calm can save precious time later.

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A free AI-powered lost pet database helped an Ohio family reunite with their kitten after traditional microchip identification failed. (Photo by:Marco Simonini/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

 

Kurt’s key takeaways

Lucy’s story could have ended badly. She slipped out, hid under a car hood and rode across a highway without the driver knowing she was there. Instead, one uploaded photo helped bring her home. Petco Love Lost matched Lucy’s image with Ame’s lost pet profile, and the family had her back in a little more than 24 hours. That to me is the reason this story is worth sharing. Technology can feel cold, but in this case, it helped a family get their kitten back.

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Have you ever had a pet go missing, and what helped bring them home? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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Comcast’s split could make or break Peacock

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Comcast’s split could make or break Peacock

NBCUniversal executives are about to find out whether Peacock will sink or swim in the streaming industry. Now that Comcast is planning to split NBCUniversal, Peacock, and Sky from its broadband and wireless businesses, Peacock will be forced to stand on its own — without the backing of a combined company that pulled in more than $123 billion last year.

In the years following its launch in 2020, Peacock was treated as an accessory to an Xfinity subscription. But once Xfinity stopped offering it as a perk and axed its free membership tier in 2023, it was a sign that Comcast believed Peacock had something worth paying for. But even with exclusive streams of the Olympics and live sports, like Sunday Night Football and the Big Ten games, Peacock still trails behind rival streamers today.

Peacock grew by just five million subscribers between March 2025 and March 2026, bringing it up to 46 million. Netflix’s more than 325 million subscribers easily eclipse Peacock’s user base. Even Disney Plus’s 132 million subscribers and HBO Max’s more than 140 million viewers make Peacock seem small in comparison. Part of that is because, unlike other major streamers, Peacock is only available in the US. Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said in March that the company doesn’t have plans for a global rollout of Peacock, but that may change as the soon-to-be standalone service scrambles for scale.

It’s also taking longer for Peacock to hop the hurdle of profitability — one of the biggest challenges for streamers. Peacock reported $2 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026. However, it experienced $432 million in losses, an increase from the $215 million it reported losing at the same time last year. But NBCUniversal media chairman Matt Strauss claims Peacock will become profitable in the current quarter, according to Deadline. “There’s not one way to approach a streaming strategy or market,” Strauss said during the Evercore Global TMT Conference last month. “Sometimes you have to play to your strengths, which is what we’ve been doing.”

It’s not clear how long Peacock can rely on live sports and reality TV to keep its service afloat. The service canceled its hit series Poker Face last year, leaving it without a tentpole series that makes Peacock worth subscribing to, like Severance on Apple TV or White Lotus on HBO Max. Though Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts and Cavanagh told investors that the company’s split isn’t a setup for a merger or acquisition, it still seems like a possibility.

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Peter Supino, a Wolfe Research analyst, said that he expects “one or both Comcast units to merge with peers or competitors,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Media executives who spoke to Oliver Darcy for his Status newsletter are similarly doubtful about Roberts’ and Cavanagh’s M&A denials, with some insiders speculating that Netflix could make a bid for NBCUniversal’s assets. Either way, Peacock will need to do something more than just tread water, or else a competitor may just have to keep it from sinking.

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