How to Delete Gemini History (and What Google Still Keeps)

Google calls your Gemini history 'Gemini Apps activity', which is why it can be hard to find. Deleting it takes a few clicks, but there are two exceptions Google mentions only in its privacy pages: a short holding period even with history off, and chats that a human reviewer has seen. Here's the full process and the fine print.

Steps to delete your Gemini history on a computer

1. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in.
2. Click Settings and help, then Activity. You can also go straight to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini.
3. Above your activity, click Delete.
4. Choose All time to clear everything, or Last hour, Last day or Custom range.
5. Confirm the deletion.

To remove one conversation instead, find it in the activity list and click the delete option next to that item. You can also delete everything from a single day using the option next to that date.

Choose how much to delete

You want to remove	Pick this
Everything	Delete, then All time
A chat you just had	Delete, then Last hour or Last day
A stretch of weeks	Delete, then Custom range
One day's chats	The delete option next to that day
A single chat	The delete option next to that item

Stop Gemini saving history in future

Deleting clears the past. To stop new chats being stored, turn off Keep activity. On the same Activity page, click On near the top, then choose Turn off, or Turn off and delete activity to do both jobs at once. Google says Keep activity is on by default for anyone aged 18 or over, so unless you've changed it, it's saving.

Here's the catch: even with Keep activity off, Google says your conversations are still saved with your account for up to 72 hours so it can run the service and process feedback. They won't show in your activity, but they aren't gone the instant you close the chat.

The exception Google keeps in its privacy hub

This is the part most guides miss. Google's Gemini Apps Privacy Hub says some chats are reviewed by human reviewers, and those reviewed chats, along with related data such as your language, device type, location info or feedback, are not deleted when you delete your activity. They're kept for up to three years. You can't tell whether any of your chats were picked, so the safe rule is simple: don't type anything into Gemini you wouldn't want a person to read.

What deleting doesn't remove

• Your Gems. Deleting a chat with a Gem leaves the Gem itself in place.
• Public links. If you shared a chat, deleting it doesn't delete the public link, so remove that separately.
• Data in other Google services, such as files Gemini read from your Drive or emails it looked at in Gmail.

One thing that does get removed: deleting a Gemini Live chat also deletes its audio, transcript, videos and screenshares. If you use Gemini Live a lot, that's worth knowing.

Let auto-delete do it for you

If you'd rather keep recent history but not years of it, change auto-delete. By default Google deletes Gemini activity older than 18 months. On the Activity page, choose the auto-delete option and pick 3, 18 or 36 months, or turn auto-delete off. I'd set 3 months: long enough to find recent work, short enough that old chats don't pile up.

Deleting Gemini history on your phone

The same activity controls exist in the Gemini app on Android and iPhone. Open the app, tap your profile picture or the menu, and look for Gemini Apps activity. The delete options are the same as on a computer: everything, a time range, a day or a single chat. If you can't find it in the app, go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini in your phone's browser, sign in with the same Google account, and delete from there.

Check you're signed in to the right Google account before you start. Many people have a personal account and a work account on the same phone, and each one keeps its own Gemini history, so clearing one leaves the other untouched.

A sensible routine

• Set auto-delete to 3 months so old chats clear themselves.
• Delete any chat with personal, health or client details as soon as you've finished with it.
• Remove public links to chats you shared and no longer need.
• Treat Gemini like a colleague's notebook: useful, but not the place for passwords or anything confidential.

Work and school accounts

If you use Gemini through a Google Workspace account, your administrator controls these settings. You may not be able to change how long chats are kept, or even see the retention period. Ask your IT team rather than hunting for settings that aren't there.

My verdict

Delete from Settings and help, then Activity, set auto-delete to something short, and turn off Keep activity if you don't want history at all. Then accept the two limits Google states plainly: up to 72 hours of holding, and up to three years for anything a human reviewer saw. If you want the bigger picture of how Gemini fits your day, my guide on how to use Gemini covers the basics.

Related: writing for us on history.

Frequently asked questions

How do I delete all my Gemini history?

Go to gemini.google.com, click Settings and help, then Activity, then Delete and choose All time.

Does turning off Gemini activity delete my chats?

Not on its own. Choose Turn off and delete activity to do both, or delete separately. Google still saves chats for up to 72 hours with activity off.

How long does Gemini keep my history?

By default, activity older than 18 months is auto-deleted. You can change it to 3 or 36 months, or turn auto-delete off.

Can Google keep Gemini chats after I delete them?

Yes, in one case. Google says chats reviewed by human reviewers aren't deleted with your activity and are kept for up to three years.

Can I delete one Gemini chat?

Yes. Find it in your Gemini Apps activity and use the delete option next to that item.