Places records your days automatically. You do not check in, start a workout, or remember to open the app. This guide explains what is being recorded and how to get the best results.

Always-on, battery-aware

The app uses your phone's low-power motion and location systems to notice when you move and when you stop. It is designed to sip battery: most of the day it is doing nothing at all, waking only when something changes.

Visits and travels

Your timeline is made of two things: visits, the places where you stopped, and travels, the journeys between them. Travels get a travel mode automatically, like walking, cycling, driving, transit or a flight, based on how you moved.

Getting the best tracking

For complete days, allow location access set to Always, keep Precise Location on, and avoid force-quitting the app. If a day looks thin, those settings are the first thing to check.

Fixing a travel

If a journey is tagged with the wrong mode, open it and change the mode. Like place confirmations, corrections help your history stay accurate.