Google Maps’ Timeline feature is now supported on iOS

IOS Software

Google Maps’ Timeline feature is now supported on iOS

April 19, 2017 Comment

Although Google Maps’ Timeline feature isn’t brand new, starting today, iOS users will also be able to access this feature directly from the iOS version of the app. Previously, the only way for iOS users to see this was by logging into a desktop and signing into the appropriate Google account.

Google has been collecting this information for years at this point, but if the idea that Google has a record of your whereabouts bothers you, you can always turn the feature off. We’ve certainly referred to the timeline when we can’t recall the name of a restaurant or if we were trying to recall how something went down on a particular day.

Timeline menu and filtering

You can access the Timeline by opening Google Maps on your iOS device and tapping on “Your timeline”. You can even filter the timeline by activity to only show you when you drove, or walked, or flew, or even when you were out catching Pokémon. You can also ask Google to send your monthly summary emails of the places visited that month. To access these settings, open the settings tab within the Timeline screen.

Just know that the only person who can see this information is you, if you don’t want anyone peeping at your location history or Google Photos backups, make sure you keep your Google account secure. Google has so much of our information nowadays, it is certainly a good idea to keep your personal Gmail account password out of the wrong hands.

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Instagram for Android now works offline

Software

Instagram for Android now works offline

April 19, 2017 Comment

At Facebook’s annual developer conference in San Jose, Instagram announces the Android app will be getting offline capabilities that will allow you to continue scrolling and browsing, even when you find yourself outside of a serviceable area. Instagram’s Stories got some attention late last week as the app’s user count has officially surpassed that of Snapchat's. The irony is real here.

Anyway, as Instagram’s amount of monthly active users rises, it has also decided to go the same route as the official Facebook app and offer a proper offline mode. When using Instagram offline, you’ll be able to see content previously downloaded in your feed, you can leave comments, like and save posts, even unfollow other users; all this according to Instagram engineer, Hendri.

Once your device connects back to the server, everything you did will be executed in the background. Profiles you’ve previously visited will also be visible offline, as well as cached versions of your Explore tab and profile page.

There was no mention of Instagram’s Stories working offline, but we’d imagine that Instagram implements this soon as its ‘Stories’ inspiration (A.K.A. Snapchat) already supports this.

A development like this could help Instagram users in developing countries where a stable internet connection is harder to come by. Maybe Instagram should come out with a ‘Lite’ version of the app, though given that Instagram is such a data-hungry social app, it may not happen.

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