Is Gemini safe? What Google says it does with your chats

01What data does Gemini collect?

Google's Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, last updated 23 October 2026, says it collects what you give it: prompts, uploaded files, photos and videos, Gemini Live transcripts and recordings, feedback and instructions you save. It also collects data from use, such as generated content, device and app data, interaction logs, data from apps you connect, and location. Location is a general area by default, and precise only with your permission.

The broader Google Privacy Policy, effective 16 October 2026, adds that Google may use publicly available information to help train AI models including Gemini Apps, and that, if you allow it, Gemini Apps can use data from other Google services such as Photos and Gmail to personalise answers.

02Do people read Gemini chats, and are they used for training?

Google says a subset of chats is reviewed by human reviewers, including trained service providers, to improve its services and keep Gemini safe. Chats are disconnected from your Google Account before going to service providers, and reviewed chats can be kept for up to three years. The hub tells users not to enter confidential information they would not want a reviewer to see.

Training depends on a setting called Keep Activity:

• Keep Activity on: chats and uploads are saved to Gemini Apps Activity and may be used to improve Google services, including training generative AI models.
• Keep Activity off: Google says future chats do not appear in your Activity and are not used to train its models, unless you send feedback.
• Temporary chats: kept out of your Activity and, Google says, not used to improve its AI with human review.

03How long does Google keep Gemini chats?

Google also states that it does not use Gemini Apps chats to show you ads.

• Auto-delete: the default is 18 months. You can choose 3 months, 36 months or no auto-delete in Gemini Apps Activity.
• Manual deletion: you can delete chats at any time.
• Keep Activity off or temporary chats: chats are still stored with your account for 72 hours, so Gemini can reply and Google can protect users. Gemini uses the last 24 hours of the chat as context.
• Feedback: if you send feedback while Keep Activity is off, the feedback and related chat from the last 24 hours can be kept up to three years, disconnected from your account.
• Audio, Gemini Live video and screen shares are not used to improve services by default; you can opt in.

04Which Gemini settings should you check?

These are the controls Google's hub describes, in the order most people will want them.

1. Sign in with the Google Account you use for Gemini and open Gemini Apps Activity; the hub points to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini.
2. Find Keep Activity. Turning it off stops future chats from being saved to your Activity and used for training, though Google says some connected apps then stop working.
3. Check the auto-delete setting and pick a period you are comfortable with.
4. For a one-off sensitive question, start a temporary chat.
5. Review your memory summary, saved info and connected apps in your personalisation settings and remove what you do not want Gemini to use.

05What do regulators say that applies to Gemini?

The sources we read do not single out Gemini. The FTC said in a January 2024 staff post that AI companies must keep their privacy promises, and that quietly changing terms to use customer data for training can be unfair or deceptive. The UK ICO's call for evidence says rights such as access and erasure apply to personal data in prompts. If you think a company broke a promise or ignored a request, a regulator is the place to complain. This page is not a ranking of Gemini against other tools.