Google's 2024 Timeline update is like Spotify Wrapped for your travels

Google Maps
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

  • Google has released the 2024 Timeline update, a Spotify Wrapped-style recap for Google Maps
  • The recap uses location data to list the countries, cities, and places you visited in 2024
  • You can also check out how much time you spent on certain activities

Google is rolling out a recap of users' travel history across 2024, using Google Maps’ timeline history function to produce a Spotify Wrapped-style recap of each user’s journeys, trips away, and total distance traveled.

Somewhat flavorlessly titled the “2024 Timeline update”, the recap allows users to review their travels over the past year as recorded by the timeline history feature found in the Google Maps app.

The recap, shared via Gmail, recounts the number of countries, cities, and individual places visited, with photos taken from the internet used to illustrate your chosen locales.

It also presents charts detailing the amount of distance covered by walking and driving, and uses your location history to estimate how much time you spent on various activities, like shopping and dining.

For those unsatisfied with pedestrian units of measurement like miles and kilometers, the recap also tells you your total distance traveled as a multiple of the circumference of the Earth.

The recap is, well, capped off with a smaller graphic containing your all-time stats for countries and cities visited, so you can see just how much you added this past year.

We previously reported that Google had begun preparing users for changes to its timeline history feature, such as moving this data from the cloud to specific devices and automatically deleting it after three months. This also means location data will not be shared between devices going forwards.

As Android Police reports, having auto-delete switched on will affect the amount of information shown in the 2024 Timeline update.

The Google Maps 2024 Timeline update is available now. For the latest news on Google’s mobile apps and operating system, check out our Android coverage, and for all things mobile be sure to check out our general phones coverage.

You might also like

Jamie Richards
Mobile Computing Staff Writer

Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Read more
Google Maps
You've got more time – the great Google Maps Timeline switch gets a new deadline date
Google Maps
Nightmare Google Maps glitch is deleting timelines, and there isn't a fix yet
Apple Music Recap
Apple Music’s year-round alternative to Spotify Wrapped has just landed – here’s how to find it
A Google Maps 20th birthday screen on a laptop sitting on a table
Google Maps turns 20 – here are its most popular locations from the past two decades, plus Google’s favorite hidden tricks
Graphics for Spotify's Playlist in a Bottle feature
Your 2024 Spotify Playlist in a Bottle is ready to be opened: here's how to find yours
The Oppo Find N5 open to Google Maps
Android 16 brings a much-needed upgrade to Google Maps that iOS users already have
Latest in Phones
iOS 18 Control Center
iOS 19: the 3 biggest rumors so far, and what I want to see
Google Pixel 8 review Pixel 8 Pro cameras
Is your Google Pixel 9 screen flickering or are the haptics a lot more intense? You aren't alone, and thankfully there's a fix
Motorola Edge 50 Pro lavender
Your next Android bargain? Major Motorola leak teases details of multiple 2025 phones – including the Edge 60 series
Apple's Craig Federighi demonstrates the iPhone Mirroring feature of macOS Sequoia at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.
Report: iOS 19 and macOS 16 could mark their biggest design overhaul in years – and we have one request
OnePlus 13
OnePlus is ditching the Alert Slider for an iPhone-style customizable button - and I’ll be sad to see it go
Samsung Galaxy A56 display
Samsung’s new budget handsets are getting One UI 7 before the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and I’m as confused as you are
Latest in News
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
Mufasa is joined by another lion, a monkey and a bird in this promotional image
Mufasa: The Lion King prowls onto Disney+ as it finally gets a streaming release date
An American flag flying outside the US Capitol building against a blue sky
Sean Plankey selected as CISA director by President Trump
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 on a table with its retail packaging
Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU spotted in Acer gaming PC, suggesting rumors of imminent launch are correct – and that it’ll run with only 8GB of video RAM
Indiana Jones talking to a friend in a university setting with a jaunty smile on his face
New leak claims Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release will come in April
A close up of the limited edition vinyl turntable wrist watch from AndoAndoAndo
This limited-edition timepiece turns the iconic Technics SL-1200 turntable into a watch, and I want one