Manual method
- On a supported iPhone/region open Maps > Places > Visited Places.
- Select a place and use its More menu > Share to copy its location into a private note/file.
- For dates or context not included in the shared item, add a dated note or screenshot you can verify.
- Keep exported photo originals with GPS metadata as a separate source; record that photo locations are not a continuous travel log.
Coverage and limitations: Apple says Visited Places availability varies by region and that it is end-to-end encrypted. This is selective manual preservation, not full Significant Locations, Find My or route-history extraction.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative planning size: 0.05 GB; scenario range 0.001–0.5 GB. This is a storage-planning example, not a measured average. Your archive may be smaller or larger. A manually selected set of places, notes and screenshots; not an estimate of Apple’s inaccessible location database.
Preparation and hands-on time: Allow 15–60 minutes for a small selected set. This method preserves selected places; there is no bulk-export preparation time to estimate.
For the 0.05 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection download speed | Transfer estimate |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbit/s | 58 sec |
| 50 Mbit/s | 12 sec |
| 100 Mbit/s | 6 sec |
These calculations use decimal GB and 70% of the advertised speed. Tiny transfers can take longer because of startup overhead. Local exports do not need an internet download; use these numbers only for a network transfer. Preparation, retries, extraction, checking and a cloud upload are additional; use upload speed for the latter.
Where and how to keep it
An encrypted USB key can hold this example, but keep another independent copy on an external drive or in private encrypted cloud storage. A USB key alone is easily lost and is not a complete preservation plan.
Create a dated apple_location/YYYY-MM-DD/ folder. Keep received originals unchanged, use a separate working copy, and note the account/profile, selected dates, formats and known gaps in a private README. Compare file sizes, check any supplied checksums, and open sample files from the backup before considering the task finished. Repeat after meaningful additions. Follow the storage, archive-checking and large-file guide.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.