Gemini Memory and Saved Info: What Gemini Remembers (2026)

Gemini remembers you in two ways: Memory, which lets it "learn from your chats to understand more about you," and Instructions for Gemini, the feature Google used to call Saved info, which holds facts and preferences you add yourself. Both live in Settings & help, Personal Intelligence, where you can turn them off or delete what is there (Gemini Apps Help, October 2026). To talk to Gemini without either one, start a temporary chat: it is not saved to your recent chats, is kept for 72 hours and is not used to train Google's AI models.

This guide covers what each control does as of October 2026, who can use it, how to see and delete what Gemini has learned, and where the limits are. Google renamed several of these settings in 2026, so older guides that send you to "Personal context" or "Saved Info" describe menus that have moved. Every fact below comes from Google's own Gemini Apps Help pages and blog, linked in the sources at the end.

By Adi Leviim, Co-Founder at Infi Developments. 7+ years building AI productivity tools. Last reviewed October 2026.

Does Gemini Remember Your Past Chats?

Yes, if Memory is on. Google says that with Memory, "Gemini can learn from your chats to understand more about you and your world," and use that to personalize later answers. Google renamed this feature from "past chats" to Memory on March 26, 2026. When it launched in August 2025, Google said the setting was on by default.

Memory has three requirements, all from Google's help page:

• Age: you must be 18 or over.
• Account: a personal Google Account. It is not available on work, school or supervised accounts.
• Keep Activity: it must be on, because Memory reads the chats saved in your Gemini Apps Activity. With Keep Activity off, Memory is not available.

It works in the Gemini mobile app, the Gemini web app at gemini.google.com, Gemini in Chrome where that is available, and Gemini on a smartwatch. Google says it is "not available in certain features, like Gems or Live chats." When Memory is on, Gemini may also suggest topics or tools based on earlier conversations.

To check whether an answer used your history, Google suggests asking Gemini, "Did you use any info from past chats?" When it did, a "Previous chats" label can appear under Sources and related content below the response.

How to Turn Gemini Memory On or Off

On a computer, open gemini.google.com, click Settings & help at the bottom, then Personal Intelligence, and switch Memory off or on. In the Android or iOS app, tap Menu, then your profile picture or initial, then Personal Intelligence.

1. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in with your personal Google Account.
2. At the bottom of the side panel, click Settings & help.
3. Click Personal Intelligence.
4. Turn Memory off or on. The card reads "Gemini learns from your past chats to understand more about you."

Turning Memory off stops Gemini from learning from your chats in future. It does not delete the chats themselves, which stay in Gemini Apps Activity until you delete them or auto-delete removes them. By default, Gemini Apps activity older than 18 months is auto-deleted, and you can change that to 3 or 36 months or turn auto-delete off.

For US users with an active Google AI plan, Google also offers a Memory summary in English, under Settings, Personal Intelligence, Memory summary. It shows "what Gemini Apps understands about you," lets you correct or delete details by asking, for example, "Remove my old phone number from your memory," and has a Memory history view. You can also ask Gemini, "What do you know about me?"

What Happened to Saved Info in Gemini?

Saved info is now called Instructions for Gemini. Google's privacy notice describes it as "Instructions for Gemini ("Saved Info" in some locales)," and it sits in the same Personal Intelligence page as Memory. The idea is the same: things you want Gemini to apply in every chat, such as "Use bullet points for long paragraphs" or a dietary preference, so you do not have to repeat them. Google says this data "remains saved until you choose to delete it."

To add, edit or delete an instruction on a computer:

1. Click Settings & help, then Personal Intelligence, then Instructions for Gemini.
2. To add one, click Add +, type the instruction and click Submit.
3. To change one, find it and click More, then Edit or Delete.
4. To pause all of them, turn Instructions for Gemini off at the top of the page.

In the mobile app the path is Menu, your profile picture or initial, Personal Intelligence, Instructions for Gemini. Google's help page documents deleting instructions one at a time; it does not describe a delete-all button.

Can you just tell Gemini to remember something?

Yes, where it is available. Google says you can say things like "Remember that I am vegetarian," and Gemini "will save these details and use them in future responses when needed." That chat-based remembering is still rolling out: for now it is only available in the US, needs a Google AI plan, a personal account, age 18 or over, and Memory turned on. Adding instructions by hand is open to all users. Google also warns that asking Gemini to forget a topic "doesn't always work perfectly," and that the reliable way is to delete the chats about it.

Gemini Temporary Chat: Talk Without Being Remembered

A temporary chat is a Gemini conversation that "won't appear in your Gemini Apps Activity or your recent chats," does not personalize answers and does not save anything for future personalization. Google introduced it on August 13, 2025. On a computer, click Temporary chat next to New chat; in the app, tap Menu, then Temporary chat next to New chat.

Google's privacy hub says temporary chats are kept with your account for 72 hours, to respond to you and help protect Google, and "are not used to train Google's AI models." The screen itself puts it plainly: temporary chats "don't appear in recent chats and aren't used to improve Google AI. Stored for 72 hours for safety."

Inside a temporary chat you cannot use Gems, cannot use Connected Apps that need Keep Activity, will not get personalized responses, cannot save information for later and cannot give feedback. When you leave it, "you'll no longer have access to that chat," so copy anything you need first. It needs a signed-in personal account and is not offered in Gemini in Chrome or Gemini in Google Messages. On work or school accounts, Google Workspace lets administrators decide whether temporary chats are available.

Memory, Instructions, Temporary Chat and @@ Compared

Memory and Instructions for Gemini decide what Gemini brings to every chat automatically; a temporary chat turns that off; an AI Toolbox context mention brings one specific past chat into the current one, on your command.

How to Make Gemini Forget Something It Learned

Google's answer is to delete the chats that contain it: "To delete something that Gemini remembered about you, delete all chats with this info from Gemini Apps Activity." There can be a short delay before Gemini stops using a deleted chat. For an instruction you added yourself, delete it from Instructions for Gemini instead.

• One chat: hover over it in the side panel, click More, then Delete. Deleting a chat there also deletes it from Gemini Apps Activity.
• Many chats: in Settings & help, Activity, use Delete with a range such as Last hour, Last day, All time or a custom range. Our guide to deleting Gemini chat history walks through each option.
• Info from Connected Apps: if Gemini learned it from Gmail, Photos or another connected app, delete the chats and disconnect the app. Google warns that doing only one of the two may leave the info in use.

Two things deletion does not reach. Chats that human reviewers have already looked at are kept for up to three years, disconnected from your account. And deleting a chat that used a Gem does not delete the Gem.

If you want to remove only some chats, AI Toolbox's Manage Chats panel lets you tick the ones you choose and delete them together, free for up to 5 chats per action and unlimited on Premium. See bulk deleting Gemini chats.

Want Gemini to use one specific past chat, not everything? AI Toolbox (formerly Gemini Toolbox) adds @@ context mentions to the Gemini prompt box: type @@, pick the conversation, and its content comes into your message. 3 per day free, unlimited on Premium. 40,000+ users, 4.7/5 on the Chrome Web Store. Add AI Toolbox to Chrome →

Personal Intelligence, Connected Apps and Gems

Personal Intelligence is the umbrella page for everything Gemini knows about you: Memory, Instructions for Gemini and Connected Apps. Connected Apps let Gemini use insights from Google apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Google Photos, Search and YouTube. Google says Personal Intelligence needs a personal account, age 18 or over and Keep Activity on, is released gradually, and is "not available in the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom." In a single chat you can switch it off from Tools in the text box; a new chat turns it back on.

Gems are being replaced by skills. Google announced on September 30, 2026 that "Skills are replacing Gems." For personal accounts, Gems become read only on November 17, 2026 and are removed from Gemini Apps on December 17, 2026, with existing data migrating to skills. Gems and skills are instructions you write for a task; Google keeps them separate from Memory, which does not work inside Gems. Our guide to Gemini Gems and skills covers the move.

Google also lets you bring context in from other assistants: Settings & help includes Import memory to Gemini, which accepts preferences and chat history from other AI apps for users 18 and over.

How AI Toolbox Adds Chosen Context to Gemini

Gemini's Memory decides on its own which past chats to draw on. AI Toolbox's @@ context mentions let you choose exactly which conversation Gemini sees, which is useful when Memory is off or when you want one project's chat and not your whole history.

• @@ context mentions: type @@ in the Gemini prompt box, search your past chats and pick one; its content is added to your message. Free for 3 mentions per day, unlimited on Premium. Details in our Gemini context mentions guide.
• Carry this chat forward: from a chat's menu, AI Toolbox writes a short summary of the conversation and puts it into a new chat, in Gemini or in ChatGPT, Claude or Grok. This is a Premium feature; the original chat is not changed.
• Search and folders: find a past chat by its text, 5 results per search on the free plan and unlimited on Premium, and keep chats in folders, 2 free and unlimited on Premium. See searching Gemini conversations and Gemini folders.

AI Toolbox's Gemini module costs $9.99 per month or $99 once for Premium, with a free plan. These are extension features, not a Google AI subscription, and they do not change any Gemini setting.

Limitations and What Google's Own Controls Do Well

Gemini's built-in controls cover the main jobs without any extension: you can turn Memory off, delete chats, clear instructions and use temporary chats. The limits are Google's own. Memory and Personal Intelligence are not available on work, school or supervised accounts or to anyone under 18, chat-based remembering is US only on a Google AI plan, Personal Intelligence is not offered in the EEA, Switzerland, the UK or Nigeria, and forgetting a topic by asking is not reliable. Google's help pages do not state a limit on how many instructions you can save, and they do not say whether turning Memory off clears the Memory summary, so treat deleting chats as the dependable way to remove information. Google also renames these settings often, so if a menu label differs on your screen, check the Personal Intelligence page first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Gemini remember previous conversations?

Yes, when Memory is on. Gemini can learn from the chats saved in your Gemini Apps Activity and use them to personalize answers. Memory needs a personal Google Account, age 18 or over, and Keep Activity on, and it does not work in Gems or Live chats. Turn it off in Settings & help, Personal Intelligence.

Where is Saved Info in Gemini?

Saved info is now called Instructions for Gemini. Open Settings & help, then Personal Intelligence, then Instructions for Gemini. There you can add an instruction with Add +, edit or delete one from its More menu, or switch them all off at the top of the page.

How do I turn off Gemini memory?

On gemini.google.com, click Settings & help, then Personal Intelligence, and turn Memory off. In the app, tap Menu, your profile picture, then Personal Intelligence. Turning it off stops future learning but does not delete your chats; delete those from Gemini Apps Activity.

How do I make Gemini forget something?

Delete every chat that contains the information from Gemini Apps Activity; Google says this is how to remove something Gemini remembered, and there can be a short delay. If you added it as an instruction, delete it from Instructions for Gemini. If it came from a connected app, disconnect the app too.

Are Gemini temporary chats saved?

Not to your recent chats or Gemini Apps Activity. Google keeps temporary chats with your account for 72 hours to respond to you and help protect Google, and says they are not used to train its AI models. Once you leave a temporary chat you can no longer open it.

Can I use Gemini memory on a work or school account?

No. Google says Memory and Personal Intelligence are not available when you sign in with a work, school or supervised Google Account. On those accounts, your Workspace administrator also controls Keep Activity and how long chats are kept.

Is Gemini memory on by default?

When Google launched the past chats setting in August 2025, it said the setting was on by default. Keep Activity is also on by default for users 18 and over. Check Settings & help, Personal Intelligence to see your current Memory setting.

Bottom Line

Gemini's memory is now two settings on one page: Memory learns from your saved chats, and Instructions for Gemini, the old Saved info, holds what you tell it to keep. Both are under Settings & help, Personal Intelligence, both need a personal account, and deleting chats is the reliable way to make Gemini forget. Use a temporary chat for anything you do not want remembered, and when you want Gemini to use one specific earlier conversation, AI Toolbox lets you pick it with @@.

Related reading: how to delete Gemini chat history, how to turn off Gemini, recovering deleted Gemini chats, Gemini notebooks, and how memory works in ChatGPT, Claude and Grok.

Sources

• Gemini Apps Help, Memory
• Gemini Apps Help, Instructions for Gemini
• Gemini Apps Help, Memory summary
• Gemini Apps Help, Temporary chats
• Gemini Apps Help, Personal Intelligence and Connected Apps
• Gemini Apps Help, Manage and delete your activity in Gemini Apps
• Gemini Apps Privacy Hub
• Gemini Apps Help, Gems transition to skills
• Google blog, temporary chats and privacy controls (August 13, 2025)
• Gemini release notes (March 26, 2026)

All checked October 24, 2026. Screenshots taken the same day on a personal test account. AI Toolbox behaviour verified in the extension source for version 5.0.54.

Last updated: October 24, 2026