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How to delete a device’s location history retained in Hexnode UEM?
Delete Location History is a management action in Hexnode UEM that allows IT administrators to remove recorded geographical coordinates of managed devices, ensuring employee privacy and compliance with data retention policies.
Why Manage Location History?
While tracking is essential for asset recovery and Geofencing, retaining sensitive location data indefinitely can pose security risks. Deleting this history is often required during device disenrollment, ownership changes (e.g., from Corporate to Personal), or to align with regional privacy regulations (like GDPR).
- Privacy Compliance: Protects sensitive employee movement data.
- Security Risk Mitigation: Reduces the impact of data breaches by removing historical logs.
- Inventory Cleanup: Ensures that only relevant, recent data is maintained in the portal.
Method 1: Manual Deletion of Location History
Administrators can manually trigger the deletion of location logs for individual devices or in bulk across the entire fleet.
- Log in to your Hexnode UEM portal.
- Navigate to the Manage tab.
- Select the checkboxes for the target devices.
- Click the Actions drop-down menu and under Others, select Delete Location History.
- Click Continue on the confirmation prompt.
- Click Confirm to execute the deletion.
Method 2: Automatic Location History Deletion
To automate data hygiene, Hexnode allows administrators to define a specific retention period. Once the data exceeds this age, it is purged automatically from the system.
- Navigate to the Admin tab.
- Under General Settings, locate Location Tracking.
- Click the Location history retention drop-down menu.
- Choose one of the following retention periods:
- 1 day
- 7 days
- 15 days
- 30 days
- 60 days
- 90 days
Where is the Data Removed From?
Upon execution of the manual action or the expiration of the retention period, location data is permanently purged from:
- Location History Reports: Found under the Reports tab.
- Location History Sub-tab: Located within the individual Device Summary page.
Troubleshooting Guides
| Problem | Potential Root Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Location data still visible after deletion | Portal cache or sync delay. | Refresh your browser or navigate away and back to the Location History tab. If using automatic retention, ensure the Admin settings were saved correctly. |
| “Delete Location History” option is missing | Insufficient Admin permissions. | Verify that your administrative role has the “Modify” or “Delete” permissions enabled for reports and device actions. |
| New locations are appearing immediately | Active Location Tracking policy. | Deletion only removes history. If an Enable Location Tracking policy is active, the device will continue to report new coordinates based on its sync interval. |
| Automatic deletion didn’t occur for 120-day old logs | Retention period set to “None” or a longer duration. | Check Admin > General Settings > Location Tracking and ensure the retention period is set to a value (e.g., 90 days) that covers your desired purge window. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is the deleted location history recoverable?
No. Once the Delete Location History action is confirmed or the retention period expires, the data is permanently removed from the Hexnode database and cannot be restored.
Does deleting history stop future tracking?
No. Deleting history only removes past logs. To stop future tracking, you must remove or modify the Location Tracking policy associated with the device.
Can different retention periods be set for different groups?
Currently, the Location history retention setting in the Admin tab is a global configuration that applies to all enrolled devices in the portal.
What is the default retention period?
If not configured, Hexnode may retain data indefinitely or based on your specific subscription plan. It is highly recommended to set a manual retention period (e.g., 30 days) to ensure compliance.
