Does Gemini remember your past chats?

It can. Gemini has a Memory setting that lets it learn from your past Gemini chats and use what it learns in new ones. Here's who can use it, where the switch is, how to check or fix what Gemini knows, and when a written context file works better, based on Google's own help pages.

Google changes Gemini's menus often, and features roll out by account and country. Treat the setting names below as signposts.

Who can use Memory

Google lists three requirements:

• You're 18 or over.
• You're signed in with a personal Google Account. It isn't available on work, school or supervised accounts.
• Keep Activity is on. Memory isn't available when that setting is off.

For now, Memory works in the Gemini mobile app, the web app at gemini.google.com, Gemini in Chrome (where available) and Gemini on a smartwatch. It is not available in some features, including Gems and Live chats. In a text chat, you can still ask Gemini to reference a past Live conversation.

Turn Memory on or off

• Computer: go to gemini.google.com, click Settings & help at the bottom, then Personal Intelligence, and switch Memory on or off.
• Gemini mobile app: tap Menu, then your profile picture or initial, then Personal Intelligence, and switch Memory on or off.
• Phone browser: go to gemini.google.com, tap Menu at the top, then Settings & help, then Personal Intelligence.

With Memory on, Gemini may also suggest topics based on earlier chats, like next steps for a project you mentioned.

Ask Gemini about a past chat

With Keep Activity and Memory on, you can ask about earlier conversations by topic or timeframe in a new chat, for example:

Summarize what we discussed about my garden plan last month.
Did you use any info from past chats?

When Gemini draws on earlier conversations, Google says you'll see Previous chats under "Sources and related content" below the answer, though the label can occasionally be wrong.

Correct or delete what Gemini knows

• To correct something: keep Memory on and correct Gemini directly in the chat.
• To delete something: delete every chat that contains it in Gemini Apps Activity. There can be a short delay before Gemini stops using a deleted chat.
• If it came from a connected app (like Gmail or Google Photos): delete the chats with that info and disconnect the app. Doing only one of the two can leave the info in use.
• For a chat you don't want remembered: Google's privacy hub says you can start a Temporary Chat instead.

Memory vs Instructions for Gemini

Memory learns from your chats on its own, so you don't control exactly what it keeps, and Google notes it might not always get it right. Instructions for Gemini (called "Saved info" in some regions) are facts and preferences you write yourself, and they stay until you delete them. For anything Gemini must always know, like your role and how you like answers, write it as an instruction. See the Gemini setup guide for where that lives.

Neither one follows you into Gems, so paste your context into a Gem's own instructions too.

The fix that works everywhere

A personal context file is a short document about you that you write once and control. Put the short version in Instructions for Gemini, the full version in any Gem you use, and reuse the same file in ChatGPT, Claude or Grok. In any new chat, you can paste this line with your file underneath:

Here is my personal context file. Read it and use it for everything in this chat. You don't need to summarize it back to me. Just reply "Got it" and wait for my first request.

[paste your context file here]

Sources: Gemini Apps Help, Get personalization with memory of your past Gemini chats, Find & manage your recent chats in Gemini Apps and the Gemini Apps Privacy Hub.