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.

    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)?

            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.

                    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!

                          deer

                          1. By "stock OS backup" do you mean your Google Timeline cloud backup?
                          2. 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?
                          3. 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?
                          • deer replied to this.

                              safeandsecure8373

                              1. Yeah, the backups are per-device, but you can download another device's backup to migrate the history over.
                              2. 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.
                              3. 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
                                7 days later
                                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?

                                      a month later

                                      aurel007 I'm not a very technical user

                                      Only file in /data/data/com.google.android.gms is one called "gmsnet2.jpg" in "files" and nothing in "cache"
                                      I can't find ULR_USER_PREFS.xml in shared_prefs with a search of the devices files. You'd need to direct me to it.