Google Maps has a remarkably clever feature that automatically detects when you stop driving and start walking. It uses this movement data, combined with your phone’s accelerometer and Bluetooth connection to your car, to automatically drop a “Saved Parking” pin on your map. This is designed to help you find your car in a crowded shopping centre or stadium car park.
However, if you park in the exact same spot every day (like your own driveway or a reserved office space), receiving a constant notification that “Google Maps saved your parking location” is incredibly annoying and entirely unnecessary.
How to Disable Automatic Parking Location
You can turn off this specific tracking feature within the core Google Maps settings without disabling your overall GPS location access.
- Open the Google Maps app on your Android smartphone or iPhone.
- Tap on your Profile Picture (or initial) in the top-right corner of the search bar.
- Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Scroll down the settings list and tap on Navigation (or “Navigation settings”).
- Scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page until you find the “Parking” section.
- You will see a toggle switch labelled Save parking location.
- Turn this toggle Off.
Google Maps will immediately stop tracking your transition from driving to walking, and the automatic parking pins will cease.
How to Manually Save Your Parking Location
Even with the automatic feature disabled, you can still use Google Maps to find your car when you genuinely need it. When you park in an unfamiliar location, simply open the app, tap the blue dot representing your current location, and select Save parking from the pop-up menu. This ensures you only save your location when you actually want to.