Penka Hristovska
Published on: February 19, 2025
Microsoft has announced the removal of the Location History feature from Windows — the data will no longer be stored locally, and the setting will be removed from Windows 10 and 11.
“We are deprecating and removing the Location History feature, an API that allowed Cortana to access 24 hours of device history when location was enabled. With the removal of the Location History feature, location data will no longer be saved locally and the corresponding settings will also be removed from the Privacy & Security > Location page in Settings,” Microsoft said in its announcement.
The feature relied on the API “Geolocator.GetGeopositionHistoryAsync,” which provided apps with locally stored location data collected over the previous 24 hours. This enabled Cortana to offer personalized services, such as reminders based on your location or providing traffic updates.
If you permitted Cortana to track your Location History, it would continuously gather location data 24/7 — but only if you explicitly allowed it.
Microsoft apps typically don’t track your location unless you specifically enable that feature. Cortana, however, was an exception — being the only app with access to the Location History API. The data collected through this feature was stored locally on your PC.
“Location services collect positions only when an app or services queries for the user’s location — but no more than once per second,” the company explains.
While no specific timeline for removing the API was provided, you can manually clear your Location History data. To do so, simply go to Privacy & Security > Location in the Settings app, locate the Location History feature, and click the Clear button to delete the saved data.
Note that this change won’t affect Windows 11’s ability to receive your device location for relevant services. The only difference is that the data will no longer be stored.
