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
          2 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.

                    2 months later

                    safeandsecure8373
                    Thanks for checking. I finally confirmed with another device and as stated above, GrapheneOS' sandboxed Google Play Services layer simply has the "new" local location recording not implemented and I gues it does not make sense that GrapheneOS will implement the location recording for Google Maps.

                      14 days later

                      deer

                      Just to share my experience, I followed what deer posted as best as I could and now location history is working. I didn't uninstall anything or reboot. Turns out I hadn't enabled physical activity permission. I'm wondering if that might have done it for me. I'm on a pixel 7 pro. I was about to give up but the next day it was working! Thanks for the help and I hope this helps others!!