The new feature of Google Maps scans iPhone screenshots to save forgotten places, but the privacy concerns are concerning

Google Maps has launched a new feature that scans users’ screenshots to identify locations and add them to a private list. The feature is designed to help users find frequently taken screenshots more quickly. According to Google’s blog, the feature has been launched in the iOS app and was announced as early as a month ago. Instead of using location data or image recognition, it uses Google’s in-house Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) technology to scan text in screenshots for names of places mentioned. This is a limited but initial attempt at a more powerful version. In the “You” tab of the Google Maps app, users can find new private lists. As soon as you update to the latest version, users will see a private list labeled “Screenshots”, as well as tutorials for using the feature. This “Screenshots” folder will display the latest screenshots containing the names of the locations. Users can click the “Review” button to see the locations detected by Google. If it is confirmed that it is correct, you can choose to save, otherwise you can choose not to save. The app will display the saved locations on the map. In addition, users can also authorize Google to automatically scan all screenshots to detect locations, or add images manually. However, considering Google’s controversy over user privacy, the idea of allowing companies to scan my screenshot library and record location information is very disturbing to me. This kind of location data may be sent to Google’s servers, processed, sold, and used to build user profiles, which is at the heart of Google’s business model. In addition to privacy concerns, I’m also wondering how much utility such a feature brings. On iOS, users can long-press any text to look up online, including addresses and place names, which means that information on screenshot locations can already be easily and quickly obtained without relying on Google Maps updates. Still, this doesn’t prevent other users from possibly finding this new feature useful. If you want to try it out, make sure to download the latest version of Google Maps on the iOS, which will also be updated to Android devices in the future.