6 important Google Maps settings I always change right away

Save yourself battery and money with these settings.

Google Maps doesn't feel like it's just a map anymore; it feels like it's become a social network, a review platform, and a data harvesting machine thanks to the new Gemini-powered navigation. It can be super overwhelming if you don't prune the settings beforehand, leading to you getting lost while driving or just struggling to understand exactly what the app is telling you. By spending two minutes in your Google Maps settings menu, you can turn the app back into a high-performance utility that respects your battery, privacy, and feels so much simpler and easier to use.

It can also ensure you're taking the best route for your specific car, which can save you money on fuel and make for a smoother and easier drive. Take back your privacy with this powerful self-hosted location tracking solution. Having to leave your phone unlocked for the entire of your journey or having to unlock it every time you want to see the next turn can be a battery killer or a safety hazard.

The fix for this is Glanceable Directions. This allows your lock screen to show live ETAs and turn-by-turn information without a full system unlock. It's the live activities equivalent for Android that most people leave disabled by default because they don't even know it's an option. You can switch this on by going into your Settings, then Navigation, and finally having Glanceable Directions while navigating switched on.

Once you've enabled this, you can lock your phone while driving, and notifications will appear on your lock screen to let you know when you need to make a turn or keep you up to date with your ETA. This is primarily suitable for those who have a phone mount in their car, so that they can glance over at it and see exactly where they need to be going without having to fumble for their phone in their lap.

A major issue with Google Maps is the fact that a full-color, high refresh rate navigation can drain modern flagship batteries within a couple of hours. If you are making a long journey, you might be worried that your phone won't even be able to navigate you for the duration of it because your battery will be flat. The fix for this is turning on power-saving mode, which is an option for a majority of phones, but not all.

Double-check if it's available to you in your settings. Go to Settings -> Navigation -> Driving Options -> Power Saving Mode. This switches the map to a high contrast black and white OLED-friendly version that only lights up essential pixels rather than all of them. This can significantly reduce the battery consumption for phones that have an OLED screen and can be a lifesaver for those long road trips.

Due to privacy shifts in the last year, Google Maps Timeline is now stored on-device by default, but sometimes it can still sync to the cloud if you aren't careful and haven't adjusted your settings accordingly. Google Maps Timeline is a history of everywhere that you've been based on the location data from your phone. If someone accesses this data, it can be clear where your place of work is, where your home is, and any other locations that you frequent.

Ensure that your settings are set up to remove this data once it's not needed and isn't being backed up to the cloud by going to Profile Your Timeline More Location and Privacy settings and then auto-delete. You can set it to auto-delete after three months, and while you're there, ensure that the cloud backup toggle is switched off to ensure that your location history stays strictly on your local hardware.

The fastest route that Google finds for you isn't always the cheapest or best for your specific car based on your engine type and fuel consumption. You can fix this by going into your settings, then navigation, and selecting your engine type. Select what engine your car has so that Google can be sure to select specific routes that will make your drive potentially cheaper, more fuel-efficient, and a smoother drive.

For example, if you're driving an EV or hybrid, selecting electric or hybrid changes the algorithm to prioritize routes with regenerative braking opportunities or high-speed chargers rather than just the shortest highway path, which you'll end up having to divert from just to be able to charge your vehicle. If you're making a long journey or going through a rural area where there's no 5G signal, then this is a recipe for a GPS signal loss disaster.

To prevent yourself from having to panic when your signal goes out, you can download an offline map that will be stored on your phone. Bear in mind this means that the Google Maps application will take up a tad more storage than usual, but it's worth it to ensure that you're never lost in the middle of nowhere with no signal. Go to profile, offline maps, and then select your own map. I'd recommend proactively downloading your entire city and then the route of your next trip if it's a long one where you're worried that you might lose signal.

It can also speed up your search results as there's no server lag since the maps are stored on your hardware, and it can also save significant data whilst you're out and about and navigating around the city. Google has recently added a toggle that allows businesses to use your navigation data for ad tracking. This can feel super invasive and is typically on by default unless you've switched it off.

To fix this, go into your settings, location, and privacy, personalized ads, and then toggle this to off. There's absolutely no benefit to you as a user; it's purely a monetization feature that adds extra tracking requests to every search that you perform. By disabling personalized ads and business tracking, you're taking back your privacy, so Google isn't sharing your location with a range of businesses in your area.

While Google Maps feels like the absolute king of navigation, there are still some settings that are worth adjusting to make sure that the application suits your needs specifically. By spending a couple of minutes toggling certain settings on or off, you can make for a much more enjoyable navigation experience without having to worry about your battery being drained or your data being used for advertising.

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