Timeline

Support

Questions or requests: marcel@differentiated.io

Connecting an assistant

Timeline can answer questions in Claude or ChatGPT about where you’ve been: “What did I do on Saturday?”, “When was I last at the climbing gym?” or “Where am I?”. The assistant reads the history your iPhone shares with this website. It can change only what you allow when you connect it, as described below.

First, in the Timeline app, open Settings › Timeline on the Web and set it up with Apple or Google, so your iPhone shares its history. Then add Timeline in your assistant:

  • Claude: in Customize › Connectors, search for Timeline and add it, or open Timeline in Claude’s directory.
  • ChatGPT: add a custom connector in developer mode with the server address https://timeline.place/mcp.

Sign in with the same Apple or Google account you use in the app, and allow access. The assistant can then look up your last uploaded position, one day’s stops, a range of up to 31 days, past stops by place, and your saved places such as Home and Work. If you allow it to, it can also add its own notes to your stops, which you can remove in the app, correct which place a stop was at by choosing among the places the app offers for it, and correct how you travelled on a trip, which the app marks as the assistant’s choice and you can change back. It can’t change when or where a stop was, add or remove stops, or change your own notes.

If an assistant’s answers look wrong

  • Nothing, or an old day: the iPhone uploads after it records a stop and when you open the app. Open Timeline on your iPhone and check Settings › Timeline on the Web.
  • “Connect Timeline again”: the connection was disconnected or has expired. Remove Timeline in your assistant and add it again.
  • A wrong place name: the assistant sees the names the app shows. Change the place in the app and the next upload corrects it.

To disconnect an assistant, open Settings on this website. Its access ends at once.

Missing visits

Timeline relies on iOS to report visits. Short stops can be missed and reports can arrive late. Timeline needs “Always” location access, and Background App Refresh helps uploads arrive sooner.