Gemini Incognito Mode: How to Use Temporary Chat and Stay Private

Gemini's incognito mode is called Temporary chat. It keeps a conversation out of your recent chats and your Gemini Apps Activity, and Google does not use it to train its AI models. It is not fully invisible, though. Google still keeps every temporary chat with your account for 72 hours.

That gap matters because Gemini is tied to your Google identity by default. With the standard settings, your chats stay in your account for 18 months and a sample is read by human reviewers. Google also uses your activity to improve its services, including training its generative AI models, according to the Gemini Apps Privacy Hub. This guide covers the three private ways to use Gemini (Temporary chat, signed-out use and the Keep Activity switch) and the five settings that limit what Gemini stores about you.

The Key Takeaways

• Incognito mode is Temporary chat: click Temporary chat next to New chat on gemini.google.com. The chat skips your history and is not used to train Google's models.
• Nothing is gone instantly: temporary chats, and chats you have with Keep Activity off, stay with your account for 72 hours.
• Keep Activity is the master switch: turning it off stops future chats from being saved to your Activity or used for training, unless you send feedback.
• Human review outlives deletion: chats a reviewer has seen are kept for up to 3 years, disconnected from your account, even after you delete your activity.
• Signed-out use is the most anonymous: some Gemini features work without an account, and Google does not link that data to your Google Account.
• Web & App Activity is separate: changing Gemini's settings does not change it, so pause it too if you want Google to stop saving related activity.

What Is Gemini Incognito Mode?

Gemini incognito mode is the Temporary chat feature in the Gemini web and mobile apps. A temporary chat does not appear in your recent chats or your Gemini Apps Activity, and Google does not use it to train its AI models. Once you leave the chat, you can no longer open it.

Temporary chat is not the same as deleting your data. Google keeps temporary chats with your account for 72 hours, according to its retention rules. That lets Gemini answer you using the last 24 hours of the chat as context, and lets Google recover from a system failure. Google also says it still uses these chats to protect Google, its users and the public, including with help from human reviewers.

You need to be signed in with a personal Google Account to use it. Temporary chat is not available on work or school accounts, in Gemini in Chrome or in Gemini in Google Messages.

How to Start a Temporary Chat in Gemini

Starting a temporary chat takes one click on gemini.google.com.

1. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in with your personal Google Account.
2. Next to New chat, click Temporary chat.
3. Type your question or prompt in the text box at the bottom.
4. Click Submit. The temporary chat icon stays at the top of the screen while you are in the chat.

What You Cannot Do in a Temporary Chat

A temporary chat turns off everything that depends on your saved history. You cannot use Gems, Connected Apps or other services that need Keep Activity turned on. Gemini will not personalize its responses or save information for later personalization.

You also cannot give feedback on a response in a temporary chat.

How to Use Gemini Without Signing In

Using Gemini signed out is the most anonymous option Google offers. Google confirms that some features of the Gemini web app at gemini.google.com work without a Google Account. To use the rest, or to save your activity, you have to sign in.

When you use Gemini signed out, Google processes data such as your IP address and browser type under the general Google Privacy Policy. That data is not associated with a Google Account. The Gemini Apps Privacy Notice does not apply. The trade-off is fewer features. For example, you have to be signed in to switch between Gemini models.

To use Gemini signed out, open gemini.google.com in a private browser window, or sign out of the web app. Open the menu on the left, click your profile picture and select Sign out.

How To Set Up Gemini for Maximum Privacy

If you stay signed in, five settings decide how much Gemini stores and connects to your identity. They live in Gemini's Activity page, in Settings & help, and in your Google Account.

1. Turn Off Keep Activity

Keep Activity is the setting that saves your Gemini chats to your Google Account. It is on by default for users 18 and over. When it is on, your chats, files, screenshares, product usage and location info are saved in your Gemini Apps Activity. Google uses that activity to improve its services, including training generative AI models.

1. Go to Gemini Apps Activity, or click Activity on gemini.google.com.
2. Make sure you are signed in with the correct Google Account.
3. Near the top, click On.
4. Choose Turn off, or Turn off and delete activity to clear your past chats at the same time.

Note: Turning off Keep Activity does not delete chats that are already saved. To clear them too, choose Turn off and delete activity, or delete them from your history.

With Keep Activity off, your future chats do not appear in your Activity and are not used to train Google's AI models unless you send feedback. They are still saved with your account for up to 72 hours. Connected Apps also stop working on gemini.google.com and on iPhone, and Memory is unavailable, because it needs Keep Activity on.

2. How To Clear Gemini History

You can clear your Gemini history all at once or one chat at a time. Deleting a chat from the side panel also deletes it from your Gemini Apps Activity, along with anything created in it, such as Canvas documents.

• To delete one chat: on gemini.google.com, open the side panel, hover over the chat, click More, then Delete.
• To delete everything or a time range: click Activity, then Delete, and choose Last hour, Last day, All time or Custom range.
• To delete automatically: click Activity, then the auto-delete option near the top. Choose 3, 18 or 36 months, or turn auto-delete off. The default is 18 months.

Deleting has one hard limit. Chats that human reviewers have already seen, with related data such as your language, device type and location info, are not deleted with your activity. Google keeps them for up to three years, disconnected from your Google Account.

3. How To Turn Off Connected Apps

Connected Apps let Gemini read from and act in other apps, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive and some third-party services. They are useful, but they create a much deeper link between your private content and the AI. Disconnect any app you do not want Gemini to use.

1. On gemini.google.com, click Settings & help at the bottom.
2. Click Connected Apps.
3. Turn off each app you want to disconnect.

Gemini can still use public information from Google Search even when Keep Activity is off or you are signed out. Google says Gemini does not access your personal content in services like Google Maps or YouTube without your permission.

4. How To Turn Off Gemini Memory and Your Instructions

Gemini personalizes answers in two ways, both under Personal context. Memory lets Gemini learn from your past chats. Your instructions for Gemini holds details and preferences you asked it to remember. Turn either off if you would rather keep chats neutral.

1. On gemini.google.com, click Settings & help at the bottom.
2. Click Personal context.
3. Turn off Memory, Your instructions for Gemini, or both.

Turning Memory off does not erase what Gemini already learned. To remove something it remembered, delete every chat that contains it from your Gemini Apps Activity, and disconnect the app it came from if it came from a Connected App.

5. Pause General Activity Logging in Your Google Account

Gemini's settings do not change your other Google settings. Web & App Activity and Location History can keep saving location and other data as you use other Google services, even after you turn off Keep Activity in Gemini.

1. Open Gemini and click your profile photo in the top-right corner.
2. Choose Manage your Google Account.
3. Go to the Data & privacy tab.
4. Under Web & App Activity, click through to manage it.
5. Turn it off to stop Google saving that activity to your account.

Which Gemini Privacy Option Should You Use?

Use Temporary chat for one sensitive conversation. Turn Keep Activity off to protect every conversation. Use Gemini signed out when you do not want any link to a Google Account. The table compares them with Gemini's default settings.

Limit Gemini’s Information About You

Beyond Gemini's own settings, four habits make your chats harder to trace back to you.

• Use a VPN to obscure your IP address and location. Gemini always collects location data, by default the general area from your IP address. VPNs like ProtonVPN or NordVPN route your traffic through other servers and hide your real IP address.
• Create a minimal, separate Google Account only for Gemini. If you do not need Gmail, Calendar or Drive access, a separate account keeps your Gemini activity apart from your main Google identity.
• Clear cookies and cached browser data after using Gemini. In a standard browser window, session data can linger. Deleting cookies and cached files stops the session being linked to other logins on your device.
• Use a private window or a separate browser profile. Private tabs and dedicated profiles (or containers in Firefox) keep Gemini apart from your main browsing and reduce cross-site tracking.

What Data Does Gemini Collect By Default?

With Keep Activity on, which is the default for adults, Gemini saves your chats and much of what surrounds them to your Google Account. Google lists the following categories in the Gemini Apps Privacy Hub.

A subset of chats is read by human reviewers, including trained reviewers from Google's service providers, who rate responses and suggest better ones. Google advises against entering anything confidential that you would not want a reviewer to see. It also says your Gemini chats are not used to show you ads.

Which Settings Reduce This Tracking?

• Turning off Keep Activity stops future chats being saved and used for training. Chats are still held for 72 hours.
• Deleting your activity removes stored chats from your account. Chats already seen by a reviewer stay for up to three years, disconnected from your account.
• Turning off Connected Apps, Memory and your instructions prevents deeper personalization. Gemini stops reaching into Gmail, Drive or Calendar and stops drawing on what it learned about you.
• Using a VPN hides your IP address. That makes your approximate location harder to determine.
• Private windows and cookie clearing prevent browser-level tracking. They also stop a login session lingering on a shared device.

Conclusion

Gemini does not make privacy the default, but it does give you real controls. For a single sensitive question, start a temporary chat. For every chat, turn off Keep Activity and set auto-delete to 3 months. For the least connection to your identity, use Gemini signed out in a private window.

If you would rather remove it altogether, we also have a step-by-step guide to turning Gemini off. The same private-mode approach works on other chatbots, and our guides to Claude incognito mode and Grok incognito mode cover them step by step.

To see how much Gemini has already learned, try our prompts that reveal what Gemini knows about you. Prefer a native app to a browser tab? Our Gemini desktop client guide for macOS covers the options on a Mac, including Fello AI, which puts Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude in one app.

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