How long does Google keep your Gemini conversations?
Google keeps Gemini conversations for 18 months by default, adjustable to 3 or 36 months in Gemini Apps Activity. With activity turned off, chats are still retained for up to 72 hours. Conversations sampled for human review can be kept up to three years and are not deleted when you delete your history.
Short answer
Google keeps Gemini conversations for 18 months by default, adjustable to 3 or 36 months in Gemini Apps Activity. With activity turned off, chats are still retained for up to 72 hours. Conversations sampled for human review can be kept up to three years and are not deleted when you delete your history.
Step by step
Check your current window: Visit myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and look at the auto-delete setting. Most accounts are on the 18 month default without ever having chosen it.
Export first: Run a Google Takeout export of Gemini Apps before shortening the window, because shortening it deletes anything already older than the new limit.
Pick a retention period: 3 months is a good default if you export regularly. 18 or 36 months only makes sense if you rely on Gemini's own history as your archive.
The three retention clocks
Gemini does not have one retention period, it has three, and they run independently.
Your activity window. 3, 18, or 36 months, or off. This governs what you can see in My Activity and what Google associates with your account long term.
The service window. Up to 72 hours regardless of your settings, so Google can deliver responses and process abuse reports. You cannot turn this off.
The review window. Conversations selected for human review can be kept for up to three years and are disconnected from your account before storage. Deleting your activity does not delete these.
Why the default bites people
18 months sounds generous until you realise it is rolling. A conversation from 19 months ago is already gone, silently, with no notification and no recovery path. Google does not warn you before it deletes, and there is no trash to restore from.
If a Gemini conversation matters to you, its lifespan is capped by a setting you probably never chose.
Making it permanent
The only durable fix is your own copy. Google Takeout exports Gemini Apps activity as an HTML or JSON archive, which is complete but close to unreadable, since it is a machine activity log rather than a conversation transcript.
Running that archive through the ChatExports converter rebuilds the prompt and response pairs into readable Word, PDF, or Markdown documents with timestamps intact. Nothing is uploaded, and once the files are on your disk no retention setting can touch them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I recover a Gemini chat deleted by auto-delete?
No. Auto-deleted conversations are permanently removed with no recovery option.
Does deleting my history delete reviewed conversations?
No. Conversations sampled for human review are stored separately and can be kept up to three years.
Does turning activity off delete existing chats?
It stops new saving but does not remove existing history. Delete that separately.
What is the shortest retention Gemini allows?
Three months, or off entirely, which still leaves the 72 hour service window.