Google Maps to take down 'Followed Places' feature by next year

Google is seeing to make a big change to one of our favourite navigation and discovery tools on Google Maps. Starting in early 2025, Google Maps will retire its Followed Places feature.

This feature which lets you follow businesses and places to get updates like events, offers, and news, will no longer be available. But no need to fret, you can still download your followed places data through Google Takeout before it’s gone.

Introduced back in 2018, Followed Places was intended to make it easy for users to stay in the loop with their favourite local spots right from within Google Maps. Initially, the + Follow button was prominently displayed under business names. Over time, it started to fade from view. Now, it seems like it’s completely disappeared for many of us. Google’s own support pages have quietly stopped giving instructions on how to follow a place, signalling the feature's gradual phase-out.

There are a few reasons why Google might be moving away from this feature. User engagement wasn’t quite what they hoped for. With so many ways to stay connected with businesses, maybe the Followed Places feature just didn’t stand out.

This is one of the more recent functionalities on Google Maps to be sunsetted. Just last week, Google announced it is sunsetting chat functionality for businesses on Maps and Search. Starting July 15th, users won't be able to initiate new chats with businesses on Google Maps.

But before the Followed Places feature is retired, make sure to save your data if you want to keep track of your favourite spots. Head over to Google Takeout and download your local followed places list.