How to export and compare Google Maps Timeline backups

Google Maps Timeline is now stored on your phone, so export it from the device that contains the history you want to preserve. On Android: 1. Open Android Settings. 2. Go to Location → Location services → Timeline. 3. Tap "Export Timeline data" and save the generated location-history.json file somewhere you control. On iPhone or iPad: 1. Open the Google Maps app. 2. Tap your profile picture → Settings → Location & Privacy. 3. Tap "Export Timeline data". 4. On the share sheet, tap "Save to Files", choose a location, and save location-history.json. To check whether a newer backup has lost structural detail: 1. Keep an older location-history.json export that you already trust. 2. Make a fresh export from the same device or replacement device. 3. Open Google Timeline Backup Diff. 4. Choose the trusted older file as the baseline and the fresh file as the candidate. 5. Review missing represented days, vanished semantic segments, path-point reductions, empty paths, raw-position changes, and date-range changes. 6. Download the audit ZIP before replacing or deleting either original backup. The report contains dates and aggregate counts only. It does not include coordinates, place IDs, or visit names. The comparison is structural evidence, not proof that Google deleted data: settings, device migration, export timing, and schema changes can also change the file. The tool accepts current phone-generated location-history.json formats, including the object format with semanticSegments/rawSignals and the iOS bare semantic-segment array. It does not accept legacy Google Takeout Records.json or timelineObjects exports, recover missing visits, import data back into Google Maps, or geocode locations.