Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Opinion Rewards is prompting users to consent to processing their location data in order to continue presenting location-based surveys to let users earn Google Play credit.
- This follows Google’s transition from server-based Location History to an on-device Timeline for location data.
Google Maps is making a major change to how it handles location data, and other Google apps are feeling the ripple effects of this shift. Google plans to soon store location data locally on your device through the Timeline feature, transitioning away from the previous Location History feature, wherein your location data was uploaded to a server. Consequently, apps like Google Opinion Rewards are now prompting users to consent to location processing to qualify for more surveys.
Opinion Rewards relied heavily on your device’s Location History setting, which in turn is a Google Account setting that creates a timeline of the places that you visited. With Location History on, Google Rewards would send users surveys from local businesses they have recently visited, giving them a chance to answer the survey and get paid for it with Google Play credit.
While you don’t need Location History to get surveys per se, keeping it on definitely affects the quantum and frequency of surveys you get from local businesses you have visited, directly affecting how much money you can make off Opinion Rewards.
As tipped by Telegram user @SamarthVermaSam, Google Opinion Rewards is now transitioning to Timeline with app v2024110402, wherein your location data is stored on-device rather than shared with Google from the get-go. Therefore, Google Opinion Rewards needs additional permissions from the user to share this on-device location data with Google to receive location-based local surveys.
Once you accept this new setting within Google Opinion Rewards, your on-device Timeline data will be automatically uploaded to Google and used for Opinion Rewards surveys. If you don’t consent to the setting, you will not get surveys based on places you have visited, as the app will not know which participating businesses you’ve recently visited.
Have you opted into the new Timeline setting in Google Opinion Rewards? How much money have you made from the app? Let us know in the comments below!
