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Apple Maps in iOS 26: Track Your Location History and Get Smarter Route Alerts

I’m in the UK on the latest beta but can’t see the option for visited places. Assuming this is a US only option at the moment or has yet to be implemented?
 
> Apple Maps is able to keep track of the places that you've visited, either in your hometown or while traveling. It can track the restaurants, shops, parks, and landmarks that you go to, so you can look back and remember where you've been.
Someone at Apple decided privacy was overrated !? of course, "delete history" means "no longer accessible to the user, already packed and sold n times". Then comes the ad system aka "recommendations", where we're just cash agents for our phones.
 
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iPay said:
> Apple Maps is able to keep track of the places that you've visited, either in your hometown or while traveling. It can track the restaurants, shops, parks, and landmarks that you go to, so you can look back and remember where you've been.
Someone at Apple decided privacy was overrated !? of course, "delete history" means "no longer accessible to the user, already packed and sold n times". Then comes the ad system aka "recommendations", where we're just cash agents for our phones.
Click to expand...
You can just in fact switch it off no big problem.
 
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zobby said:
I’m in the UK on the latest beta but can’t see the option for visited places. Assuming this is a US only option at the moment or has yet to be implemented?
Click to expand...
Pretty sure it’s region locked at the moment, as I can’t see it in my country either. The screenshots also show a „beta“ label, so I assume it could be extended at some point.
 
I went to Huddersfield once, it kept sending me round in circles, this isn’t uncommon. Fix basic functions first then do the fancy stuff
 
iPay said:
Someone at Apple decided privacy was overrated !? of course, "delete history" means "no longer accessible to the user, already packed and sold n times". Then comes the ad system aka "recommendations", where we're just cash agents for our phones.
Click to expand...
Do you think Apple sells your iCloud documents and iMessages, too?

The feature existing doesn’t indicate anything about how private your data is being kept. Read the privacy policy before complaining. The location history is end-to-end encrypted.
 
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Apparently, this is available where I am currently in Switzerland but the option for visited places doesn't show anywhere.

Maybe it hasn't worked out where I am yet 😁

More likely, it's not supported on non-AI phones such as my iPhone 11. Not that I have a car here, but I do cycle to/from a few set places regularly, although as I (obviously?) know where those places are, I'm not sure how useful it is for an app to tell me. I'm just bitter that the option isn't there.
 
Apple maps just is not a complete offering compared to Google Maps. I just tried the browser version again before typing this comment. I admit it's very pretty, I prefer its visual presentation to that of Google Maps by quite a margin, but at least in the UK there is still no public transport option for directions.

Beyond just the public transport stuff, in general I find Google's ground truth to be well ahead of Apple's at least in the UK and for me a maps application lives and dies by the quality of its ground truth.

I also tried some walking directions on the browser version and the only route it showed me to the destination I used as a test was almost entirely walking beside the busiest main road to my destination without the option Google maps has to select from a number of alternate routes it offers for the journey or to drag any part of a selected route to choose different roads/paths for bits of it. I then set the "Avoid busy roads" option for the Apple Maps routing and it didn't alter the route at all, still choosing the route via the busiest main road into town.

These little changes to the iOS app are just tinkering at the edges. Apple really does have a lot more work to do on the whole Maps ecosystem before it becomes a real competitor to Google Maps and it saddens me to say that because Apple Maps is much more integrated into the iPhone and Apple Watch ecosystem so I would like to switch if only I trusted it as much as Google Maps regarding ground truth, and if the browser version had even what for me is the minimum set of basic features.
 
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I’ve been living in Cornwall for two years. I’d love there to be a setting for “don’t take me off the main road and down stupid one-lane paths which cut off corners saving about 3 metres of distance but adding 2-3 minutes of driving, stress, and collision potential”
 
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Apple’s new “Visited Places” feature in iOS 26 Maps — which automatically tracks and categorizes your location history (similar to Google Maps Timeline) — will not be available in the EU at launch.

  • The feature is available in the U.S. and other non-EU regions starting with iOS 26 (expected public release in Fall 2025).
  • In Europe, Apple has delayed the rollout of this and several other features due to compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
  • Apple cited regulatory hurdles around privacy, interoperability, and data control for this delay.
    (Source: WSJ – Apple Delays Feature Rollout in EU)
 
Boeingfan said:
Um... This is navigation 101, and something that TomTom were doing a decade or more ago. I see spouting this as embarrassing given it should have been doing this since Jesus was a boy.
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Apple Maps has been doing this for ages also. IDK why this is listed here.
 
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The corners are so round!

qwZ8tUM.png
 
matzoek said:
Pretty sure it’s region locked at the moment, as I can’t see it in my country either. The screenshots also show a „beta“ label, so I assume it could be extended at some point.
Click to expand...
So I cant get it on my SE3 but it could be:-
  • They think UK is in EU
  • Apple think it is an AI feature and I am too poor.
  • It is USA only (“America first” is firmly in Apple culture, like alien money isn't good enough)
 
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Boeingfan said:
Um... This is navigation 101, and something that TomTom were doing a decade or more ago. I see spouting this as embarrassing given it should have been doing this since Jesus was a boy.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly from the keynote, Maps will learn your daily routine and warn you of potential traffic issues even if you haven’t selected a destination and asked for directions.
 
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iPay said:
> Apple Maps is able to keep track of the places that you've visited, either in your hometown or while traveling. It can track the restaurants, shops, parks, and landmarks that you go to, so you can look back and remember where you've been.
Someone at Apple decided privacy was overrated !? of course, "delete history" means "no longer accessible to the user, already packed and sold n times". Then comes the ad system aka "recommendations", where we're just cash agents for our phones.
Click to expand...

“Precise Location needs to be toggled on for Visited Places to work, and places that you've been are stored on-device. The information is not uploaded to Apple's servers.”
 
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Why can Google offer Visitited Places in the EU for years, but when Apple finally plays copy cat, they block the feature. Very weird.
 
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