If Gemini has started popping up personalized suggestions, itineraries, or answers that reference your Gmail, Photos, or Calendar, that’s Google’s Personal Intelligence feature at work. It’s designed to make Gemini more useful by connecting it to your Google apps, but not everyone wants an AI assistant reading through their inbox and photo library to do it.
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The good news is that Personal Intelligence is fully controllable. You can turn it off for a single chat, disconnect the app groups feeding it data, or shut it down and delete what it’s already learned. Here’s exactly how to do each, on both mobile and desktop.
Quick Answer
Open Gemini, tap the Tools icon in the chat box, and switch off the Personal Intelligence toggle to disable it for that conversation. To turn it off everywhere and stop it from accessing your data, go to Gemini’s Settings > Personal Intelligence > Connected Apps, and toggle off each group: Contacts, Google Photos, Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and related apps), Search services (Search, Maps, Shopping, and related apps), and YouTube.
How to Disable Personal Intelligence Step by Step
In the Gemini app or at gemini.google.com, tap the Tools icon inside the message box. You’ll see a Personal Intelligence toggle there — switching it off stops Gemini from pulling in personalized context for that specific chat. This is the fastest option if you just want one conversation to stay generic.
For a more permanent fix, open the app menu, tap your profile picture, and go to Personal Intelligence. From there, tap Connected Apps to see the data groups Gemini has access to. Google bundles related services rather than listing them one by one: Google Workspace covers Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and other Workspace apps as a single toggle, while Search services covers Search, Maps, Shopping, and related products as another single toggle. Contacts, Google Photos, and YouTube each get their own separate toggle. Turn off any group you don’t want feeding Gemini’s suggestions — you can disconnect them all if you want the feature effectively neutralized, or leave a few connected if you find some suggestions genuinely useful.
On desktop, the same controls live under Settings in the Gemini sidebar, then Personal Intelligence and Connected Apps. The toggles work identically across platforms since they’re tied to your Google account, not a specific device. Google may show a confirmation prompt before fully disconnecting the Google Workspace or Search services groups, since they cover multiple apps at once.
Deleting What Personal Intelligence Already Knows
Turning off the toggles stops new data collection, but it doesn’t erase what Gemini has already stored from past conversations. To clear that out, go to Settings > Activity in Gemini (or visit myactivity.google.com/product/gemini directly), and choose Delete all time to wipe your full Gemini Apps activity history, or delete just the last hour or day.
While you’re there, you can also turn off Keep Activity entirely, which stops Gemini from saving your prompts and responses going forward. If you leave Keep Activity on, you can also change the auto-delete window from the default down to a shorter period in the same settings screen.
For full removal of a topic, disconnect the relevant app group under Connected Apps and delete any chats that referenced it — doing only one of the two can leave residual context behind.
Tips and Common Mistakes
Don’t assume the Tools icon toggle is permanent — it only applies to the chat you’re currently in. If Gemini keeps re-enabling personalized suggestions in new conversations, you need to disconnect the app groups under Connected Apps instead.
Remember the groupings: you can’t turn off just Gmail while keeping Calendar and Drive connected, since all three fall under the single Google Workspace toggle. The same goes for Search and Maps under Search services. If you want partial control, check each Workspace app’s own privacy settings instead.
Disconnecting a group in Gemini doesn’t disable that app’s own AI features elsewhere. For example, turning off Google Workspace access in Personal Intelligence won’t disable Gmail’s separate Smart Features (like Smart Compose); that’s a different setting inside Gmail itself if you want to turn those off too.
If you share a Google account across a family or work group, check whether Personal Intelligence settings apply per-user or per-account before assuming a toggle change protects everyone on the account.
Revisit these settings periodically — Google has been rolling Personal Intelligence out gradually and expanding which connected app groups are available, so a group you didn’t see last month may show up later.
Explore more: more technology how-to guides.
Google Personal Intelligence FAQs
What is Google’s Personal Intelligence feature?
It’s a Gemini feature that connects your Google apps — grouped as Contacts, Google Photos, Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive), Search services (Search, Maps, Shopping), and YouTube — so Gemini can give personalized answers, recommendations, and summaries based on your own data.
Can I disconnect just Gmail without affecting Calendar and Drive?
No. Google groups Gmail, Calendar, and Drive together under a single Google Workspace toggle in Connected Apps, so turning it off disconnects all of them at once. Search and Maps are similarly grouped under Search services.
Is Personal Intelligence on by default?
Once you turn it on for any app group, it stays on until you disable it. You control which groups it can access at any time through the Connected Apps settings in Gemini.
Does turning off Personal Intelligence delete my past data?
No. Disconnecting app groups stops new data from being used, but you need to separately delete your Gemini Apps activity (Settings > Activity) to remove what’s already been stored.
Will disabling Personal Intelligence affect other Google AI features?
It only affects Gemini’s personalization. Other AI features, like Gmail’s Smart Features or Google Photos’ auto-organizing tools, have their own separate settings and aren’t controlled by the Gemini toggle.
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Photo by Dan Nelson on Unsplash.