Google released a new Google Maps version to beta testers which includes various features the company is considering for the future. Among them, there’s a brand new privacy feature that will let you better manage your location data. Last summer, reports revealed that Google is tracking and logging your location even when you think the feature is disabled, and it uses various apps to do it, not just Google Maps. That’s the kind of privacy breaching behavior the EU might punish with the help of record fines. So seeing Google try to improve user privacy in the main Google app that requires access to your location is an excellent step towards fixing things.
Code found inside Google Maps 10.10 beta reveals that Google is considering adding an Automatically delete Location History option to the app, in addition to the existing menu items that let you delete Location History from the app. Before you get too excited, you’ll have to remember these features that 9to5Google just discovered are only in testing for the time being, which means there’s no telling when they’ll make it to the final version of the app.
It’s unclear how the new Location History feature would work and how fast it’ll delete location data after you use the app. But the code seems to indicate you’ll be able to continuously delete Location History associated with your account and decide how much of your history you want to keep.
Other features in Google Maps 10.10 beta include a new Personal events menu that will show “map annotations and trip suggestions” from Google Calendar and reservations in Gmail, as well as a “navigation legs” feature that will let you preview and start the first or last leg of a trip. Navigation legs could come in handy when planning a route that has multiple stops along the way, and you want to preview just sections of it.
Finally, the app’s code also suggests that there’s a Brazilian Carnaval-related feature built in the new beta, which will let you “customize your own float.”
To sign-up for the Google Maps beta program, all you need to do is head over to the Play Store app and follow the instructions — check it out at this link.
