--- title: "How Gemini Memory and Personalization Work" description: "How Gemini memory works as of September 2026: past chat recall, Instructions for Gemini (saved info), Personal Intelligence, and deletion controls." canonical: https://past.dev/blog/gemini-memory date: 2026-09-02 category: Research authors: The past.dev team --- # How Gemini Memory and Personalization Work Gemini memory is three systems behind one settings page. As of September 2026, Google's help center groups them under Personal Intelligence: a Memory setting that lets Gemini learn from your past chats ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)), Instructions for Gemini, the feature that launched as saved info ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598625)), and Connected Apps, which personalize responses with your data from services like Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). Each piece has its own eligibility rules and its own off switch. Google renames these features often, so this post states names as the documentation states them and dates the older ones. ## How Gemini memory recalls past chats - The Memory toggle lives at Settings & help > Personal Intelligence in the Gemini web app, and it controls whether Gemini uses memory of your past chats to personalize responses ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - With Memory on, Gemini can learn from your chats "to understand more about you and your world", and it may suggest next steps on projects or trips you have discussed ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - Requirements are strict: 18 or over, a personal Google account, and the Keep Activity setting on; work, school, and supervised accounts are excluded ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - It runs in the Gemini mobile app, the web app at gemini.google.com, Gemini in Chrome where available, and on smartwatches, and it does not operate inside Gems or Live chats, though a text chat can reference a past Live conversation on request ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - The documented way to check its influence is asking Gemini in the chat whether it used any info from past chats ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). Dating the names: this capability shipped on August 13, 2025 as a personal context setting labeled "Your past chats with Gemini", on by default, first on the 2.5 Pro model in select countries ([Google blog](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/temporary-chats-privacy-controls/)). The help center now files the same control under Personal Intelligence as Memory ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). This is [cross-session memory](/glossary/cross-session-memory) in the general sense: recall that spans conversations rather than living inside one. ## Gemini saved info is now Instructions for Gemini - Instructions are standing rules applied to every chat: response format, preferences, and facts you want remembered without repeating them ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598625)). - They are managed at Settings & help > Personal Intelligence > Instructions for Gemini, where you can add, edit, delete, or switch the whole set off ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598625)). - The old name survives in Google's own privacy documentation, which describes "Instructions for Gemini" with "Saved Info" as the label in some locales ([Gemini Apps Privacy Hub](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961)). - Documented limits: personal accounts only, no effect inside Gems, and instructions telling Gemini to avoid a topic may fail, in which case Google's advice is to delete chats about that topic from your activity ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598625)). ## Gemini personalization from Connected Apps - Personal Intelligence connects Contacts, Google Photos, Google Workspace, Search services, and YouTube so Gemini can use your own content and cross-reference it in answers ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). - It launched on January 14, 2026 as a US beta for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers ([Google blog](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/)). As of September 2026 the help center describes a gradual release requiring age 18+, a personal account, and Keep Activity on, and lists it as unavailable in the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). - Connecting apps is off by default and chosen app by app ([Google blog](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/)). A per-chat toggle under Tools turns Personal Intelligence off for that chat, the choice sticks with that chat, and new chats default to on ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). - Google states Gemini does not train directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library; it trains on limited information such as prompts and responses after filtering personal data ([Google blog](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/)). - Removing a fact Gemini picked up from a connected app takes both documented steps, deleting the chats that contain it and disconnecting the app, and edits inside a connected app can take days to reach Gemini ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). ## Gems carry instructions of their own A Gem is a saved custom version of Gemini: a name, a set of instructions, and optional knowledge files, with premade Gems shipping instructions already written ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15146780)). Gems created on the web appear in the mobile app and the Google Workspace side panel, and Gems cannot be used with Gemini Live ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15146780)). Because Memory and Instructions for Gemini do not apply inside Gems, personalization within a Gem comes from its own instructions and files ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). ## Deletion, retention, and Temporary Chats - Chat storage is governed by Keep Activity, which Google renamed from "Gemini Apps Activity" in August 2025 ([Google blog](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/temporary-chats-privacy-controls/)). - You review and delete chats in Gemini Apps Activity, and a deleted chat stops personalizing responses after a short delay ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - Auto-delete defaults to 18 months and can be set to 3 months, 36 months, or indefinite ([Gemini Apps Privacy Hub](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961)). - Temporary Chats stay out of recent chats and activity, are excluded from personalization and from training Google's AI models, and are kept up to 72 hours ([Google blog](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gemini/temporary-chats-privacy-controls/)). The same 72-hour window applies to chats made while Keep Activity is off ([Gemini Apps Privacy Hub](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961)). - Two retention exceptions are documented: chats reviewed by human reviewers are retained up to three years and survive activity deletion, and some usage data persists until the Google account is deleted ([Gemini Apps Privacy Hub](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13594961)). - Turning Keep Activity off also ends cross-chat Memory, which requires the setting to be on ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). For how retention policies like these compare across assistants, see the [AI data retention guide](/guides/ai-data-retention). ## What Gemini memory does not do Documented boundaries only: - There is no itemized list of learned facts to edit. To delete one thing Gemini remembers from chats, Google's procedure is deleting every chat containing it; corrections happen conversationally, in the chat itself ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). The visible, editable artifacts are your chats, your Instructions for Gemini, and your Connected Apps settings ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598623)). - None of the personalization features work on work, school, or supervised accounts ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598623)). - Memory does not run inside Gems or Gemini Live chats ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598469)). - Connected Apps personalization is unavailable in the EEA, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the UK as of September 2026 ([Google help](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16598406)). - Google warns the system can over-personalize, drawing connections between unrelated topics, and says timing and nuance around changing life facts remain active problems ([Google blog](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/)). ## For builders: this personalization stays inside Gemini Gemini's memory personalizes Google's assistant for Google's users; an agent you build cannot query any of it. If your own product needs that layer, past.dev is a memory API built for it: POST /api/v1/ingest takes raw text with its original timestamp (fields: content, timestamp), entity resolution links mentions of the same person across sources, and POST /api/v1/recall (field: query) returns ranked, dated evidence with sources and a status of Supported, Conflicted, NoKnownSupport, or UnknownBecauseDegraded. Facts carry event time, validity windows, and supersession links, with deployment managed or self-hosted in your own Postgres. Start with the [Memory API quickstart](/docs/memory-api/quickstart) and the [benchmarks](/benchmarks).