Interesting information. I haven't looked into it in detail yet, just wanted to contribute a few sources:
https://blog.google/products/maps/updates-to-location-history-and-new-controls-coming-soon-to-maps/
Google Timeline Location Data Now Saved on Device: Should We Use It And How?
- Edited
So my first question appears to have been answered by Google in their product news release (which I and most people probably trust for many use cases) from December 12, 2023 which Murcielago (thank you) cited above:
"If you’re getting a new phone or are worried about losing your existing one, you can always choose to back up your data to the cloud so it doesn’t get lost. We’ll automatically encrypt your backed-up data so no one can read it, including Google."
My second question is unanswered. If anyone knows why Google Timeline or Google Find My Device doesn't work on Graphene OS and if it's fixable I'd appreciate it.
safeandsecure8373 it's worked for me in the past. These are the features that have problems:
- find my device won't be able to find your device when the phone is off
- it won't be added to the FMD network (you'll still need WiFi or mobile data available on the phone to track it) (GrapheneOS specifically said they won't support it)
- I'm unsure if you can remote wipe a phone using Find My Device like you can on stock.
As far as maps and timeline, I've never had issues when I used it. Many issues I've noticed for Google apps on GrapheneOS stems from signing into Google before all the necessary apps are installed and necessary permissions are made available. You can often resolve them by logging out and then logging back in to your Google account after those things are setup.
- Edited
Just solved the issue. There's a lot of permissions to play with to get Google Timeline and Google Find My Device to work. I consider the two questions in my original post solved (though there is a potential functionality bug described below that the devs might want to look into). Solution to question 2 in the original post:
Relevant settings:
- Under OS Sandboxed Google Play settings:
- Reroute location requests to OS is DISABLED
- Google location accuracy->improve location accuracy is on
- If there is a permission conflict a "potential issues" section will pop up with an explanation - Under Google Play Services app settings location permission is set to allow all the time and use precise location is enabled
- Under Google Play Services app settings nearby devices permission is set to allowed
- Under Google Maps app settings location permission is set to allowed all the time
- Open the Google Find My Device app, go to "Find My Device" settings and enable the service
- Open the Google Maps app, go to "Your Timeline" settings:
- Click the cloud icon to manage your timeline backups
- Click three dots then "Location & Privacy Settings" to enable BOTH location and timeline - Settings -> Location -> Location services and enable wi-fi and bluetooth scanning for more accuracy
-Allow background battery usage for Google Maps, Find My Device and Google Play services
An alternative is to enable "Reroute location requests" and disable Google Play services location permission (which the permission conflict alert described above will tell you about and the conflict is explained in the link below), but I found it to be much less reliable than the above set up. I got mostly "Can't reach device" errors with Google Find My Device. Maybe the devs should look into why their location request rerouting feature isn't working well with Google Find My Device. And are there any security advantages to using the Graphene OS location request rerouting feature over just giving Google permission?
Note changing some of these settings seems to disable your VPN. You may need to reenable your VPN after changing the settings to reestablish internet connectivity (assuming you used a VPN kill switch) before Google Timeline or Google Find My Device can find you.
I have not tested the above settings with Google Timeline yet as it takes time for data to be collected to verify it's working. I will update this post if I have any issues.
For more information about these settings, how they affect functionality and combinations you can use to prevent conflicts go here:
https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play-configuration
If all else fails or you still don't want to use Google Services you can use Nulide's Find My Device app instead of Google which can be found on F-droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/de.nulide.findmydevice/
You can backup your location history to the app's public server (https://fmd.nulide.de/) and encrypt the backup with a password and user ID or use sms commands to get the location. It has much of the same functionality as Google Find My Device. Link to their privacy policy: https://fmd.nulide.de/ds.html
After 24 hours of testing while having the above described settings I can confirm the Google Timeline is NOT working, Google Find My Device continues to work perfectly, and Google Maps continues to work perfectly.
Google Timeline is telling me that "Timeline is on" in the Google Maps app, but when I go to history for today or yesterday it tells me "No visits for this day." This is despite me going on a walk, driving twice and staying home during this 24 hour time frame.
If anyone has a suggestions to get Google Timeline working I'd appreciate it. Using a Pixel 8 Pro, fully updated.
Someone else is also reporting Google Timeline is not working: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/13745-google-maps-timeline-is-not-working
a month later
Hi, I can confirm that "Timeline" and "Find my device" is working with a Pixel 8 and the latest GrapheneOS settings. Here is what I did/configured:
- Installed Player Services & Google Maps
- Granted Location (precise), Network, Notification and Sensor permisisons to "Google Play services" + Allowed background battery usage
- Granted Location (precise), Network, Sensor permissions to "Google Maps"
- Disabled "Reroute location requests to the OS"
- Enabled "Improve Location Accuracy"
- Enabled "Wi-Fi scanning" in "Location Services" (improves accuracy in my case)
When setting up the timeline in Google Maps I was asked for a PIN from other device, which was already set up (running stock Android). As I don't really see a difference compared from @safeandsecure8373's settings, I assume that the existing device might make a difference.
When using the device, especially when moving it, the location access notifications (green bubble in the top right) appear quite often. It's Google Play / Fused location which are quite active, but it somehow confirms that it's working as intended.
- Edited
aurel007 Yeah I have no idea why mine isn't working because, like previously stated, I have all those settings enabled. Are you using a VPN because I am? Maybe the non-GPS location tracking is contradicting with the GPS tracking.
I even tried enabled Google Web & App Activity under Google account settings for a couple weeks which did not fix the Timeline issue. I tried this because in some places the wording implies that this functionality is needed for some Timeline functions. It didn't work though. I think Web & App Activity tracking only creates user specific content in Google Maps (along with on other Google products). I obviously didn't want this type of tracking long term so I shut it off.
Are you sure your location is being logged in Google Timeline? As in, can you see your complete location history starting when you enabled all the settings? Because I can see my location in Google Find My Device and in Google Maps just fine. The problem is that Google Maps won't log my history via the Timeline functionality.
safeandsecure8373 That is really strange. I am not using a "real" VPN, but Rethink is enabled which tunnels the traffic via the VPN feature.
I can confirm, all my location history is logged and transferred to Google. I can e.g. login to Google on my notebook and check the full location history. It just takes usually takes some time (minutes, not hours) to get really the latest status update to the timeline.
Have you checked checked "Location usage" in the "Privacy dashboard"? Do you see there the constant requests from "Play Services" and the related services (when enable visibility of System apps)?
- Edited
aurel007 Yes on the Graphene OS Privacy Dashboard it says Google Play Services is checking location every 2-30 minutes or so, but no Timeline history over the past weeks since I enabled all the above settings.
You shouldn't be able to get Google Timeline data on your notebook anymore as it should only be saved to your device, not the cloud? When I'm on my computer and web browser and logged into my Google account if I go to Google Maps and "Your Timeline" it says "Timeline is no longer available on web browsers." So I'm not sure how you're able to do that. Unless perhaps you haven't accepted their new terms that allows you to store timeline data on your device rather than in the cloud? In which case, Google may still have access to your Timeline data? I wouldn't think saving Timeline data to the device rather than the cloud would break the Timeline history logging on Graphene OS as the Google Maps app itself handles the data itself, but if your Timeline data is saved to the cloud and not your phone then that would be a difference between our devices that could suggest a potential explanation...
safeandsecure8373 Unfortunately, I can't remember if I gave any consent to the new Timeline terms, however, it seems that the data is stored locally and synced via the described backup feature. When adding my new GrapheneOS device to the Timeline I was a bit surprised that I had to enter the PIN of my old device. Somehow it makes sense, although the supposed E2E encryption only using the PIN seems quite weak.
When looking at their help article Google states
Important: These changes are gradually rolling out to all users of the Google Maps app. You'll get a notification when an update is available for your account.
As I don't have the exact same settings as stated in the article (e.g. the Cloud icon is missing when I tap my profile picture in Google Maps and go to "Your Timeline") @safeandsecure8373 suggestion is probably right, that my account was probably not yet migrated to the latest implementation of the Timeline feature.
- Edited
aurel007 So looks like Timeline data will be deleted sometime around the beginning of December 2024 and your app will try to store Timeline data on your device automatically after then or your data risks deletion. I received emails from location-history-noreply@google.com on June 12, 2024 and July 13, 2024 with the following info and a link to set up the new settings:
You previously turned on the Timeline setting—formerly called Location History —which helps you go back in time and remember where you’ve been. With Timeline, your visits and routes are automatically saved to a map on each of your devices.
Timeline is changing and will now be created on your device. As part of this, you'll need to choose settings for your data by December 8, 2024 to avoid losing visits and routes.
How it works
Like before, your devices will continue to save your visits in Timeline when this setting is on. But starting today, if you're signed in on multiple smartphones, each device will save new visits on its own Timeline.
What you need to do
If you’d like to keep your saved visits and routes, choose your settings on your preferred smartphone by December 8, 2024. (You may first need to update the Google Maps app.)
After you do this, you’ll only be able to use Timeline in the app.
If you take no action, you may lose data. Google will try moving up to 90 days of Timeline data to the first signed-in device you use after December 8, 2024. Your older data will be deleted. Timeline will also remain on for your account, and your devices will continue saving new visits. Your visits and routes older than 3 months will be auto-deleted.
Review & choose settings
If you don’t want any Timelines on your devices, you can turn off this setting and delete your data in Activity controls.
Your Timeline data
3
Countries/Regions
247
Cities
1923
Places
Go to your Timeline
About Timeline
Timeline helps you go back in time, and remember where you've been, by automatically saving your visits and routes to a map on each of your devices. To learn more about Timeline, visit the Help Center.
When I go to "Your Timeline" in the Google Maps app I indeed see the cloud icon at the top right which if selected lets me toggle on encrypted backups to Google servers. This indicates my Timeline data has been successfully migrated.
More info about the migration process can be found here including that you need to update your Google Maps app to the latest version: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/14169818?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=1
Let us know once you make the (eventually mandatory) change to device Timeline storage and let us know if it still logs your location on your Grapheme OS device. If not, we may have isolated where the issue is.
My only other thought is that toggling/refreshing settings sometimes solves problems (e.g. logging in and out of Google on your device, deleting cache/data, etc). I'll refrain from this troubleshooting for now as there's many possibilities and we may be close to an answer.
Just reporting in that I'm having the same issue; gave all permissions to the apps mentioned, Timeline is saying that its on but no history is being recorded. Tried with my normal setup and did a fresh reinstall to see if that would fix anything and it didn't
I do wonder if starting from a stock OS backup is important. Since I have to reset to stock anyway for a trade-in, I'm going to give that a try and see if that does anything when I get my new phone.
10 days later
Reporting back after I got my new phone and having access to a GOS and a stock OS device at the same time. I was able to get Timeline to work on Graphene OS. Devices are a Pixel 8 Pro on stock and a Pixel 9 Pro running up-to-date GOS
On fresh reboot, I installed Google Play Services and gave it the following permissions:
- Location (Precise, all the time)
- Nearby Devices
- Network
- Notifications
- Physical Activity
- Sensors
I then installed Google Maps and gave it the following permissions
- Location (Precise, all the time)
- Nearby devices
- Network
- Notification
- Physical activity
- Sensors
I also made the changes to "location requests to OS", location accuracy, and wifi/bluetooth scanning, as well as disabling battery optimization
After this, I enabled timeline and downloaded my stock OS backup, noticed that timeline wasn't working, and rebooted. I briefly turned on exploit compatibility for both apps and didn't see an immediate change, so I turned it off.
When I woke up I saw that Timeline on my GOS Pixel 9 was working properly. I carried both phones side by side so I could compare and they both recorded similar activity, so I think the issue is fixed. If I had to guess, it was based off backup from stock device or the physical activity and nearby devices permissions, or maybe it needed exploit compatibility mode disabled for a bit to process. One thing weird I did notice was when I downloaded my original GOS Timeline backup (the one converted from Location History) it seemed like that it had been recording trips on the GOS device, even when GOS was unable to display them.
It does seem like GOS timeline is a little bit less accurate, especially when walking and driving, but I'll keep carrying them side by side for a few days to see if i notice anything else.
Hope this helps!
- By "stock OS backup" do you mean your Google Timeline cloud backup?
- Is all this after you migrated you Google Timeline data to your device (rather than Google cloud) as described in above posts on this thread? E.g. do you have the cloud backup icon in the top right when you go to Google Maps ->Your Timeline?
- Since you're using two phones at the same time (one stock and one Graphene OS) I just want to make sure its not just the stock phone recording data and syncing with your Graphene OS phone. Does the Graphene OS phone continue to log location history when the stock OS phone is off?
- Yeah, the backups are per-device, but you can download another device's backup to migrate the history over.
- Yep! Got the email to migrate over a while ago and both devices (as well as my original GOS install where I noticed the problem) have had the cloud icon.
- They are not syncing with each other, I forgot one of my phones today and the timeline history for it just shows it at home all day, vs my day at work on my GOS phone
9 days later
i got the same issue as @safeandsecure8373 i tried what @deer said as well as the settings of @safeandsecure8373 , unfortunately without success in both cases.
7 days later
justaregulareverydaynormaluser Just to check my theory, did your restored timeline backup come from a stock OS device or a GOS one?
deer i did a restore from my stock OS before. Restore worked well - i got all my locations until the install/restore date from GOS
Did anyone open a Ticket already?
3 months later
justaregulareverydaynormaluser Not yet. Timeline still not logging history for me. In fact, when I uninstalled the Google Maps app and reinstalled it and then tried to restore my encrypted cloud backup to my device it restored nothing and my entire backup history was deleted.
15 days later
safeandsecure8373
I also received the email announcing that my timeline data will be deleted by 18th May 2025, so it's a question of time when I am also not able to use that feature anymore.
It seems that the timeline/local location history features depends on GMS (Google Mobile Services), see https://thebinaryhick.blog/2024/06/28/the-green-look-back-androids-on-device-location-history/ i.e. it would need to be re-implemented in the sanboxed Google Play Services layer.
I tested it with an older device and no location history gets recorded at all - threfore also nothing is shown in Google Maps. @safeandsecure8373 Do you have any recordings in /data/data/com.google.android.gms or the config file ULR_USER_PREFS.xml in shared_prefs?