Google Maps offers a timeline view on an opt-in basis that makes it easy for you to go back into the past, checking out the places you’ve been to. It looks like a timeline like this might soon make it into the proper Android system settings, living right along Google Account-related data options. This would further cement the settings app as the place to go to organize and manage your personal data on your favorite Android phone.

The option was spotted by the Google News Telegram Channel editor @Nail_Sadykov on Twitter. He managed to activate the new settings section via hidden flags in the Google Play Services, giving us a glimpse at how the Timeline will look like in system settings. The section will sit under Location services and offer four simple top-level options: Your Timeline to see your visits and routes (which isn't accessible right now), an Export Timeline data to make a .json backup for your own purposes, Delete Timeline data for obvious reasons, and an Encrypted backup option that allows you to take your timeline to a different device.

Judging by the descriptions in the settings and the fact that the section is separate from Google’s usual Google Location History, it’s likely that the Timeline will be independent of the Google Maps timeline you might be familiar with. Instead, it seems to be a local-only, more privacy-minding alternative to it. This might make using the timeline a viable option for people who don’t want Google itself to save every step you make on its servers, but still benefit from the archive. At the same time, the description in the Timeline section notes that Google can use the data to personalize your experience on Google services, so the privacy advantage of this solution might be questionable.

It’s possible that in the long term, Google will consolidate Google Location History and the new Timeline feature. @Nail_Sadykov notes that when you tap the Encrypted backup option, you’re simply taken to the Google Account Activity controls that manage your location history within your Google Account, which would make this a likely scenario.

It’s clear that the new timeline is still work in progress, and it's not rolling out to anyone in stable just yet. The feature might just make your location history easier to manage and a more private affair than it used to be. If the timeline really does get decoupled from Google Maps and your Google Account, it’s possible that other apps will be able to hook into it more easily to further personalize your experience, but only time will tell, as there are a lot of privacy and data sharing concerns to be addressed. However, Google has done something similar with health data thanks to its Health Connect service, so maybe we will see something like that.