‘This is heartbreaking’ Google Maps users sob after tech giant admits it accidentally DELETED data

GOOGLE Maps users who have been missing their Timeline over the past few weeks may find that it has vanished permanently.

The tech giant has admitted that some user data was deleted, and is in some cases unrecoverable.

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Google has emailed affected users, saying the company had “briefly experienced a technical issue that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people”.

“We understand that this can be frustrating if you use Timeline to remember places that you’ve visited, and we are taking steps to improve our systems for the future,” the email continued.

Only users who had backups turned on will be able to restore their Timelines, according to Google.

However, this setting is not switched on by default after Google recently switched to an on-device storage option for Timeline data.

Some users on Reddit also claimed they were unable to get back all their Timeline data even after importing their backups.

It’s unclear how many users were affected.

“I saw the email, checked my timeline, and I only had two weeks of timeline data instead of 10 years of it,” one user wrote in a Reddit thread.

“But thankfully selecting “Import” from the backup restored everything. What a fail though.”

Others weren’t so lucky.

“Got the same email except everything up until yesterday is gone. Years of travel and memories,” another user wrote.

A third person added: “This p*ssed me off so much I was close to quitting Google and Pixel altogether.

“I had Timeline data as far back as 2012/13.”

How to restore backups

First, make sure you have the latest version of Google Maps installed.

Inside the app, head to your Timeline.

Tap the cloud icon near the top of your screen.

Choose a backup to import your data – and this should restore all the retrievable data.