5 ms·

> Also I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Google Maps now remembers searches you've made without location history or app activity tracking being active

> Also I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Google Maps now remembers searches you've made without location history or app activity tracking being active. This wasn't the case about a year ago, when I last tried it, a dark pattern of sorts. They probably changed the behavior being forced by the GDPR or something similar. Location history wasn't ever needed for remembering searches, FWIW.

amaccuish 8y ago
> Location history wasn't ever needed for remembering searches It absolutely was. When I tapped on the search bar, there were no results and it told me to turn on location history.
- wendigo 8y ago
  Nonetheless, I actually don’t enjoy seeing my search history accumulate on my device. Half of my searches are just spell checks anyway, the next 40% are just wikipedia shortcuts. Probably less than one in ten searches are genuine queries, to scour for a real result. The number is small enough that I pretty much can directly remember the thing I was thinking about, and why I searched for it. I don’t even want my device saving my recent searches.
  - bad_user 8y ago
    Your preference is not very relevant for people that need to remember their searches though.
    - inetknght 8y ago
      People that need to remember their searches should configure their preferences in such a fashion.
      - bad_user 8y ago
        Let's not talk past each other. An app can remember preferences and searches locally, without synchronizing them to a central server. Requiring that the server remembers those searches only if you agree to having your activity tracked is a dark pattern. Which is what we are talking about.
        zaroth 8y ago
        And this is very much still present in the latest version on my iPhone anyway. I still see a big prompt to turn on Web & App Activity I order to “Get the most from Maps” — which includes saving “Work” and “Home” favorites. Boo :-(
        sa1 8y ago
        You don't see that prompt if you aren't signed in.
        zaroth 8y ago
        Son of a .... &%$!
  - Firadeoclus 8y ago
    This is about location search history in Google Maps, though, not general search history. Personally, I rarely need the latter but I find the former very useful.
- darren_ 8y ago
  On iOS, location history absolutely was not required for this. Either its different on android google maps, or you're conflating web and app activity with location history.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - jakobegger 8y ago
    Google Maps used to display a message "please log in to see recent searches" or something like this. Which is ridiculous, there's nothing preventing them from storing search history on the device. It was really annoying, because there is no back button in the app, so if you search for your hotel, then for a restaurant, and then want to show the hotel again, you had to type the full address again. They seem to have stopped doing that, it's now possible to use Google Maps on iOS without signing in, and you still see recent searches. They still display a message "sign in to get better search results". And a second message: "Add your phone contacts to search for their addresses". But it's a lot better than it used to be.
- pjc50 8y ago
  Just tried this. I have "home" and "work" defined in Saved Places, but if I go to the search bar there are "home" and "work" options which claim not to be set up and won't work until I turn on "web and app history". Hmm.
deleted 8y ago
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amaccuish 8y ago

> Location history wasn't ever needed for remembering searches It absolutely was. When I tapped on the search bar, there were no results and it told me to turn on location history.

wendigo 8y ago
Nonetheless, I actually don’t enjoy seeing my search history accumulate on my device. Half of my searches are just spell checks anyway, the next 40% are just wikipedia shortcuts. Probably less than one in ten searches are genuine queries, to scour for a real result. The number is small enough that I pretty much can directly remember the thing I was thinking about, and why I searched for it. I don’t even want my device saving my recent searches.
- bad_user 8y ago
  Your preference is not very relevant for people that need to remember their searches though.
  - inetknght 8y ago
    People that need to remember their searches should configure their preferences in such a fashion.
    - bad_user 8y ago
      Let's not talk past each other. An app can remember preferences and searches locally, without synchronizing them to a central server. Requiring that the server remembers those searches only if you agree to having your activity tracked is a dark pattern. Which is what we are talking about.
      - zaroth 8y ago
        And this is very much still present in the latest version on my iPhone anyway. I still see a big prompt to turn on Web & App Activity I order to “Get the most from Maps” — which includes saving “Work” and “Home” favorites. Boo :-(
        sa1 8y ago
        You don't see that prompt if you aren't signed in.
        zaroth 8y ago
        Son of a .... &%$!
- Firadeoclus 8y ago
  This is about location search history in Google Maps, though, not general search history. Personally, I rarely need the latter but I find the former very useful.
darren_ 8y ago
On iOS, location history absolutely was not required for this. Either its different on android google maps, or you're conflating web and app activity with location history.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jakobegger 8y ago
  Google Maps used to display a message "please log in to see recent searches" or something like this. Which is ridiculous, there's nothing preventing them from storing search history on the device. It was really annoying, because there is no back button in the app, so if you search for your hotel, then for a restaurant, and then want to show the hotel again, you had to type the full address again. They seem to have stopped doing that, it's now possible to use Google Maps on iOS without signing in, and you still see recent searches. They still display a message "sign in to get better search results". And a second message: "Add your phone contacts to search for their addresses". But it's a lot better than it used to be.
pjc50 8y ago
Just tried this. I have "home" and "work" defined in Saved Places, but if I go to the search bar there are "home" and "work" options which claim not to be set up and won't work until I turn on "web and app history". Hmm.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]