Location Data

Like many apps, Google Maps keeps a complete history of locations and addresses on your iPhone. In fact, the history includes searches, shared locations, and reviews. Google Maps makes it possible to remove history entries by time frame, by individual location, or wipe the entire history on record.

Just like you can delete location history from Apple Maps, Google Maps offers a similar function. Follow these steps to delete Google Maps history on iPhone:

Apple Maps keeps a history of directions and locations visited while using the app. The history makes it easy to revisit a location or remember the address of a location in the future. Of course, not everyone wants a running history of their whereabouts hanging out on their iPhone. Removing all or part of the location history from Apple Maps can be accomplished directly in the app.

Recently viewed locations are organized into sections, such as This Week and This Month. Each section can be deleted in its entirety, or individual places can be removed.

Apple has added more data to its special page titled Apple Maps Mobility Trends Reports. The tool was developed to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Anonymous data aggregated from Apple Maps can be displayed for hundreds of countries, states, cities, and regions. This provides insight into how people are responding to stay at home orders and reopening plans in your local area.

Apple devices can use GPS, Bluetooth, cell towers, and Wi-Fi hotspots to determine your location. The iPhone periodically sends location data back to Apple, in an anonymous and encrypted form. This data is used to improve location-based services on everyone's devices, such as displaying real-time traffic or suggesting popular locations. Many apps can use location data in the background, and iOS will periodically notify users when this data is being collected.

The iPhone has included on-board GPS since the second generation iPhone 3G. With the release of iOS 13, Apple added more granular controls over how apps use location data, giving the user more privacy controls. Location data and privacy issues are back in the news lately, with the addition of ultra wideband location tracking to the iPhone 11. Many apps can use location data in the background, from GPS and other sources.