To export your Google Maps Timeline, use the phone it's saved on. On an iPhone, open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture or initial, then Settings > Location & Privacy > Export Timeline data, and save the file to Files. On Android, open the phone's Settings app, then Location > Location services > Timeline > Export Timeline data. You get one file of your visits and routes that you can keep, back up or import into another app.
The steps changed when Google moved Timeline off its servers and onto people's phones, a change that rolled out through 2024 and 2025. Google's help page now says Timeline isn't available in Maps on a computer, so older guides that start on a desktop no longer apply.
Export on iPhone
These are Google's steps for iPhone and iPad:
- Open the Google Maps app.
- Tap your profile picture or initial, then Settings, then Location & Privacy.
- Tap Export Timeline data.
- On the share sheet, tap Save to Files.
- Choose where to save it, such as iCloud Drive or On My iPhone.
- Tap Save at the top right.
The file is called location-history.json. Find it afterward in the Files app.
Export on Android
Google's steps for Android start in the phone's own Settings app, not in Maps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Location, then Location services, then Timeline.
- Tap Export Timeline data.
- Tap Continue, choose where to save the file, and tap Save.
When it's done, a notification says "Export complete." Phone makers rename Settings menus, so on some Android phones the path looks slightly different. If you can't find it, search Settings for "Timeline."
Google's menus change too. If any step doesn't match your screen, check Google's own help page, "Manage your Google Maps Timeline," and choose your device at the top.
Export is not the same as backup
Google offers two things that sound alike:
- Backup saves an encrypted copy of your Timeline on Google's servers, so you can restore it onto a new phone. You turn it on from the cloud icon in Your Timeline. It's for moving phones, not for using the data elsewhere.
- Export gives you a file you hold yourself. It's what you want for keeping a record, or for bringing your travels into another app.
Do both if you care about the history. A backup protects you if the phone dies; an export protects you if you leave Google Maps or turn Timeline off.
Why your export might look empty or short
If the file seems to be missing years, check these before anything else:
- Timeline was never on. Google says Timeline is off by default. If you never switched it on, there's nothing to export.
- Auto-delete is on. Google lets you delete Timeline data older than 3, 18 or 36 months automatically. If it was set to 3 months, older trips are gone. Turn auto-delete off now if you want to keep what's left.
- It's on a different phone. Google says Timeline is saved on each signed-in device, and edits on one don't show on the others. An old phone may hold history your new one never had. Export from each.
- The backup wasn't restored. If you switched phones, your history may be sitting in a backup rather than on the new phone.
What's in the file
The export holds your Timeline's visits and routes: places you stopped and the paths between them, with times and coordinates. It's a JSON file, made for apps to read rather than people. Opened in a text editor it's a long run of brackets and numbers.
It's also one of the most personal files you own: a precise record of where you've been, including home and work. Store it where your other important files live, and think twice before uploading it to a website you don't know. Why a travel tracker without an account is worth looking for explains what to look for in an app you trust with it.
What to do with your export
- Keep it. Put a copy with your photo backups, following the three-copy rule in how to keep your travel photos safe.
- Turn it into a list of countries. Years of Timeline is the raw material for a travel list, especially for trips with few photos. Globestamp imports Google Maps Timeline, which helps with the trips your photos missed.
- Count days abroad. Because the visits are dated, Timeline is useful evidence of how long you spent in each country. See how to count the days you've spent in each country and our days in each country calculator.
- Fill gaps in your history. Combine it with photos, email and passports, as in how to remember every place you've traveled.