Microsoft deprecates Windows' location history feature that lets Cortana access your PC's location

Another product or service is entering the Microsoft Graveyard. This time, the Redmond company announced the upcoming deprecation of its Location History feature.

The Location History feature, which allowed Cortana to access 24 hours of device location history, is being deprecated and removed. As a result, Microsoft says that location data will no longer be saved locally, and the related settings will be removed from the Privacy & Security > Location page in Settings.

The company announced this change in February 2025.

Cortana was retired as a standalone app in the spring of 2023. Microsoft moved away from using Cortana as a personal assistant and started focusing on integrating its features into other Microsoft 365 services.

Although the app was removed, some of Cortana’s functions, like the Location History API, did stay in Windows 11 a little longer.

This is another legacy feature that Microsoft has been deprecating in the past months.

In November 2024, the company announced the discontinuation of the Paint 3D app, once a Windows 10 staple feature, and advised users to transition to the 3D Viewer app for 3D content. Though, some loyal fans managed to keep Paint 3D archived and well-treasured.

Microsoft also deprecated the Tips app in November 2023, with plans to remove it in a future Windows release besides apps like Wordpad, which was removed in Windows 11’s most AI-friendly version, the 24H2.