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Guides and notes on Google Maps Timeline: exporting your data, fixing common problems, and making better travel videos.
- Google Maps Timeline: how it works, how to turn it on and view it, and why it stops recording
Published Sep 14, 2026
Your Google Maps Timeline lives on your phone, not in your account. How to turn it on (iPhone needs location set to Always), how to browse it by day and by place, what to check when it doesn't record or gets places wrong, auto-delete and backup, the two ways to see it on a computer, and how to export it.
Read more → - How Many States Have I Visited? Free Interactive Map Tool
Published Sep 8, 2026
Wondering how many states you've visited? Use the free interactive US map below to count, track and visualize every state you've been to. Map + checklist, no sign-up.
Read more → - See all your photos on a map — free, in the browser, nothing uploaded
Published Sep 4, 2026
Google Photos won't show your photos on a map on desktop, and most photo-map apps want a subscription. This free tool reads the locations from your photos in your browser and turns a trip into one shareable map image.
Read more → - How to find where a photo was taken (and why it sometimes can't be done)
Published Sep 4, 2026
Three honest ways to find where a picture was taken: read the location stored inside your own photos (free, in your browser, nothing uploaded), what to try when a received photo has no location data, and the map views already built into your phone.
Read more → - See every US state you've visited — from your photos or Google Timeline
Published Aug 31, 2026
Your camera roll and your Google Timeline already know which states you've been to. Get a states-visited map with counts, percentages and first-visit years — read in your browser, nothing uploaded. Free PNG, no watermark.
Read more → - See every country you've visited — generated from your photos (or Google Timeline)
Published Aug 30, 2026
Your camera roll already knows where you've been. Pick a folder of travel photos and get a countries-visited map with counts, percentages and first-visit years — read in your browser, nothing uploaded. Plus: what Google Timeline can and can't add.
Read more → - Why does my Google Timeline only have the last 3 months? (Auto-delete, and how to keep 36)
Published Aug 27, 2026
Your Timeline export starts about 90 days ago and everything older is gone? That is Google's auto-delete setting, not a bug. Where the switch is on iPhone and Android (official menu names), what you can still make today, and how to keep the whole year next time.
Read more → - Timeline Visualizer Android app (APK): how to install it — and when the web version is the easier pick
Published Aug 26, 2026
The open-source Timeline Visualizer app is not on Google Play; you install its APK from GitHub. Step-by-step install on Android (v2.4.1, 6.6 MB, Android 8+), what the 'unknown apps' warning means, how to make your first video — and why iPhone users just open the website.
Read more → - No Google Timeline? Make the travel video anyway — with one ChatGPT prompt
Published Aug 26, 2026
Timeline was off, auto-deleted, or you just want to map a trip you planned by hand? Paste this prompt into ChatGPT (or any AI assistant), it writes a Timeline.json for your stops, and Timeline Visualizer turns it into the same animated route video — free, nothing uploaded.
Read more → - Google Maps Timeline disappeared? How to restore it (and when you can't)
Published Aug 25, 2026
Timeline gone after a new phone, a reinstall or an update? Since 2024 it lives on your phone, and only a backup can bring it back. The exact restore steps from Google's own help page, the 'encrypted data is locked' trap, and what to do if there is no backup.
Read more → - Hide your home before you share a travel video — one free switch
Published Aug 25, 2026
A route animation shows where you sleep every night. Timeline Visualizer's privacy zone finds your home and workplace on your device and blurs them so the video never shows the exact spot — and the blur cannot be reverse-engineered. Here is how it works and how to use it.
Read more → - Timeline.json is empty? Every reason and the fix
Published Aug 24, 2026
Exported your Google Maps Timeline and got an empty file — 0 KB, or "no usable locations"? The six causes, from a freshly enabled Timeline to picking the file from the wrong place, and exactly how to fix each one.
Read more → - Timeline Visualizer vs the open-source original: what is different, and which one to use
Published Aug 23, 2026
Timeline Visualizer is an independent browser rebuild of the open-source google-timeline-visualizer project. Here is an honest comparison — music, automatic duration, a free privacy zone, Pro extras, languages — and when the original app is the better pick.
Read more → - How to use Timeline Visualizer: from Timeline.json to a shareable travel video
Published Aug 22, 2026
A step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots — export your Google Maps Timeline, pick a period, choose 9:16 and music, preview, and create the MP4 in your browser.
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