How to Turn Off Gmail's AI Features (and What Each One Does)

To turn off Gmail's AI features, you need to flip two separate groups of settings, not one: the checkbox called smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet, and the toggles under Google Workspace smart features. Both live in Gmail's settings under the General tab on the web, or under your account name in the mobile apps. Turning off the first kills Smart Compose, Smart Reply, inbox categories, and summary cards; turning off the second kills the Gemini features, including email summaries and Help me write. Google documents all three settings groups on its smart features support page.

Key Takeaways

• Gmail's AI lives behind three settings groups: smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet; smart features in Google Workspace; and smart features in other Google products. You must turn off the first two to remove AI from Gmail itself. Source: Google support.
• The Gmail, Chat, and Meet group controls Smart Compose, Smart Reply, automatic inbox categories (Primary, Social, Promotions), and summary cards for travel and package tracking.
• The Google Workspace group controls Gemini summarization and drafting in Gmail, plus events from Gmail showing up in Calendar and personalized search in Drive.
• Changes apply across all devices where you are signed in, so you only need to do this once per account.
• Trade-off: turning these off removes genuinely useful non-AI conveniences (package tracking, flight events in Calendar), because Google bundles them into the same switches.
• Since September 3, 2026 the trade-off includes a paid feature: Gmail Live, Google's voice conversation with your inbox, requires both Workspace smart-features toggles to be on, so opting out here disables it even for subscribers. Source: Google support.
• On a work or school account, the Gemini side panel and summaries are controlled by your Google Workspace administrator; your personal toggles cannot fully remove them.
• These settings control personalization inside your account, not AI model training. Google says consumer Gmail content is not used to train Gemini's public models.
• Turning the settings off is not retroactive. Google says the learnings already developed "may persist even after you turn off a smart feature setting." Source: Google support.
• You can turn everything back on at any time from the same two places, with no waiting period.
• On a work or school account the setting lives in the Admin console and needs a super administrator; changes can take up to 24 hours. Source: Google Workspace Admin Help.
• None of the Gmail toggles stop Gemini saving the chats you type into it. That is a separate switch called Keep Activity, in Gemini Apps Activity, and it is on by default. Source: Gemini Apps Help.
• With Keep Activity off, Google still saves future chats for 72 hours. With it on, Google auto-deletes activity older than 18 months by default; you can pick 3 or 36 months, or never. Source: Gemini Apps Privacy Hub.

What Each Gmail AI Feature Does

The direct answer: as of mid-2026, a personal Gmail account has two layers of AI. The older layer is machine-learning convenience features (Smart Compose, Smart Reply, categories, summary cards). The newer layer is Gemini: automatic summaries above long threads, a Help me write drafting tool, and Gemini-powered assistance that can reach into Calendar and Drive. Google groups all of it under the three settings documented on its smart features and controls page, and each feature belongs to exactly one group.

If you mostly want to understand what Gemini itself is before deciding, our explainer on Gemini 3.1 covers what the model does in plain terms.

How to Turn Off Gmail AI on the Web

The short version: open Gmail settings, then turn off one checkbox and two toggles. Here are the steps on a computer:

1. Open gmail.com and click the gear icon in the top right.
2. Click "See all settings."
3. On the "General" tab, scroll to the "Smart features" section.
4. Uncheck the box for smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet.
5. Still in the same section, find "Google Workspace smart features" and click "Manage Workspace smart feature settings."
6. Turn off "Smart features in Google Workspace."
7. Turn off "Smart features in other Google products" if you also want Gmail data kept out of Maps and Wallet.
8. Save your changes and reload Gmail.

After the reload, Gemini summaries, Help me write, Smart Compose, and Smart Reply stop appearing in your account.

How to Turn It Off on Android

On Android the same two controls live inside the Gmail app's per-account settings, per Google's Android instructions:

1. Open the Gmail app and tap the menu button, then "Settings."
2. Tap the email account you want to change.
3. In the "General" section, uncheck "Smart features."
4. In the same section, tap "Google Workspace smart features."
5. Turn off "Smart features in Google Workspace" and, if you want, "Smart features in other Google products."

How to Turn It Off on iPhone and iPad

The answer for iOS is the same setting, reached through the app's account settings: open the Gmail app, tap the menu, tap "Settings," choose your account, and clear the smart features option, then open the Google Workspace smart features controls in the same screen. Google's support page has the current iOS wording if your app version differs. Because the setting is account-level, changes you make on any one device apply across all devices where you are signed in.

What You Lose When You Turn It Off

Be honest with yourself about the trade before flipping the switches: Google bundles popular non-AI conveniences into the same settings as the AI, so opting out costs more than just Gemini. With smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet off, your inbox becomes one single list (no Primary, Social, and Promotions tabs), package tracking and flight summary cards disappear, and typing suggestions stop. With Google Workspace smart features off, flights and reservations stop auto-appearing in Calendar, and Drive search loses personalization. Spam filtering, search, labels, and filters all keep working; they are core Gmail, not smart features.

As of September 3, 2026 there is one more thing on that list, and it is the first paid feature the toggles block. Gmail Live, Google's new voice conversation with your inbox, does not work with these settings off -- and it does not work even if you are paying for it. Google's Gmail Live help article lists under "Additional requirements": "In Gmail, turn on Smart features in Google Workspace and Smart features in other Google products." Gmail Live needs a Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra subscription on top of that, so a reader who opts out here and then pays $4.99 a month expecting to talk to their inbox will get nothing and no explanation. We cover what the feature does and which plan buys it in Gmail Live, Docs Live and Keep Live explained. If you want Gmail Live, the third toggle above has to go back on.

Is It Actually Off, or Just Hidden?

The short answer: within Gmail on a personal account, off means off, but the switches do not reach everything Google does with AI. Three caveats matter. First, these settings control whether your content is used to power personalized features in your account; Google says consumer Gmail content is not used to train Gemini's public models either way, so the toggles are about features and in-account processing, not a training opt-out. Second, on a work or school account, your Workspace administrator decides whether Gemini appears in Gmail; the Workspace smart features toggles you control as a user cannot remove an admin-enabled Gemini panel. Third, the Gemini app and Gemini buttons in other Google products (Chrome, Android, Docs) have their own controls, so do not expect Gmail's settings to de-Gemini your whole Google account.

Also worth knowing: Google turned smart features on by default for many accounts in a late-2025 rollout, which is why AI summaries may have appeared in your inbox without you asking for them. If you opted out years ago, it is worth rechecking the settings above once.

The third group, "smart features in other Google products," now does one extra job that is easy to miss: Google's help centre says the Gemini app cannot connect to Google Workspace at all while that setting is off. So leaving it off also blocks Personal Intelligence -- the opt-in feature that lets the Gemini app read your Gmail, Calendar and Drive -- from ever reaching your mail. If that is the outcome you wanted, you already have it. If you later decide you want Gemini to work across your Google apps, that is the switch you will have to turn back on.

Does Turning It Off Delete What Google Already Learned?

No, and this is the single most misunderstood part of the opt-out. Turning a smart feature setting off stops your data being used to improve those features from that point forward; it does not reach backwards. Google's smart features support page states it plainly: "The learnings developed from this improvement process may persist even after you turn off a smart feature setting or delete your Workspace Content & Activity from your Google Account." So treat these switches as a stop valve, not an eraser. If what you actually want is deletion, that is a separate job done through your Google Account's data controls, and even then Google's wording above says the derived learnings can outlive it.

Stop Gemini Saving Your Chats: A Different Switch Entirely

Nothing on this page so far touches what the Gemini app keeps. Gmail's smart features settings govern whether your mail is used inside Gmail; the conversations you type into Gemini are governed by a separate control called Keep Activity, which lives in Gemini Apps Activity, not in Gmail settings. If you turned the Gmail toggles off because you did not want Google's AI holding on to your words, this is the switch you were actually looking for, and it is on by default.

To turn it off on a computer, per Google's Gemini Apps activity guide:

1. Go to gemini.google.com.
2. Click "Settings and help," then "Activity."
3. Near the top, click "Turn off," or "Turn off and delete activity" if you also want the back catalogue gone.

On Android and iPhone the same control sits behind your profile picture in the Gemini app, under "Gemini Apps Activity."

Two numbers are worth knowing before you decide, both from Google's own documentation. First, off does not mean nothing is stored: Google's Gemini Apps Privacy Hub says that with Keep Activity off, "future chats are still saved for 72 hours so Gemini can respond to you, process your feedback, and protect Google, its users, and the public." Second, leaving it on has a default expiry: Google auto-deletes Gemini Apps activity older than 18 months unless you change it, and the alternatives offered are 3 months, 36 months, or never.

Turning Keep Activity off also switches three Gemini features off, and Google only says so on their own help pages. This is the part that is easy to miss, because the activity setting reads like a pure privacy control:

Image generation is not on that list: Google's image help article asks only that you be signed in and old enough, and never mentions Keep Activity. So the setting is not an all-or-nothing kill switch for Gemini's creative features -- it is specifically the personalization and music ones that depend on it.

The practical upshot: turning off Gmail's smart features and turning off Keep Activity are two different decisions, and doing one does not do the other. Someone who flips only the Gmail checkboxes still has every Gemini conversation saved to their account for up to 18 months. Someone who flips only Keep Activity still has Gemini summarising their inbox.

How to Turn Gmail's AI Features Back On

Turning them back on is the same two places in reverse, and there is no penalty or waiting period for changing your mind. Google's support page is explicit that the switch is the only thing standing between you and the features: "To continue to use these experiences, you need to turn the setting back on." On a computer, open Gmail settings, click "See all settings," go to the "General" tab, re-check the box for smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet, then open "Manage Workspace smart features" and turn "Smart features in Google Workspace" back on. On Android and iOS, the same two controls sit in the Gmail app under Settings and then your account name.

Two things worth knowing before you flip them back. Inbox categories and summary cards return, so an inbox you had deliberately flattened into one list becomes tabbed again. And if you also turned off "smart features in other Google products," turning that one back on is what re-opens the door for the Gemini app to reach your Gmail, Calendar and Drive.

Work and School Accounts: What Your Admin Controls

On a work or school Google Account, the smart features decision is not entirely yours, and the personal toggles above may not be the ones that matter. Smart features for a whole organisation are set in the Google Admin console under Menu, then Account, then Account settings, then "Smart features for Google Workspace," per Google's admin guide. Google states you must be signed in as a super administrator to change it, and that changes "can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly." That is why the setting you flipped this morning may look untouched this afternoon.

The nuance most people miss is that an admin can set a default rather than a lock. Where they do, Google says "Your users can later opt to turn the features on or off" -- so it is worth checking your own Gmail settings even on a managed account, because the personal toggles may still work. If they are greyed out or keep reverting, that is your administrator enforcing the setting, and no amount of clicking in Gmail will change it; the request has to go to whoever runs your Workspace domain.

If you are turning this off because you would rather use AI deliberately in a separate app than have it ambient in your inbox, see our comparison of the best free AI chatbots in 2026 and our everyday-use matchup of ChatGPT vs Gemini. And if you are curious what the next wave of this looks like (AI that acts in your accounts, not just summarizes them), read what an AI agent is, in plain terms.

One more Google AI setting is worth knowing about, because it is opt-in rather than on by default: since July 23, 2026 you can record a selfie video as a way back into your Google Account. It is a separate decision from the Gmail toggles above, and we cover what Google stores and how to delete it in Google selfie sign-in explained.

The Gmail toggles above are also not the switch that controls personalized search results. That lives one level up, in "Search personalization" in your Google Account, and Google added new controls there on August 20, 2026 -- including the ability to name which publications you want its AI Overviews to lean on. We cover the setting, and the off switch that sits beside it, in Google Preferred Sources explained.

What changed (September 4, 2026): added what turning off Keep Activity actually costs you. This page told you where the switch is and what Google retains either way, but never listed a single feature that stops working when it is off. Three do, each stated on its own Google help page: AI music generation, which Google put a new model behind today, Personal Intelligence in full, and YouTube Music in Gemini. Image generation is deliberately not on that list -- its help article never mentions the setting. Nothing on this page was incorrect; the lose-list for the Keep Activity half was simply empty.

What changed (September 3, 2026): added the first feature these toggles block that you can pay for. Google launched Gmail Live on September 3, and its help article requires both "Smart features in Google Workspace" and "Smart features in other Google products" to be turned on, on top of a Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra subscription. Until now everything on this page's lose-list was free, so opting out cost you conveniences and nothing else. Nothing on this page was incorrect; every Gmail setting above was re-checked today against Google's smart features support page, including the "learnings ... may persist" wording and the "you need to turn the setting back on" line, and all of it is unchanged.

What changed (August 31, 2026): added the section on Keep Activity, the Gemini Apps Activity control that decides whether Google saves the chats you type into Gemini. This page previously said three times that Gemini elsewhere in Google "has its own controls" without saying where they are. Google's Gemini Apps activity guide documents the switch and the delete options; the Gemini Apps Privacy Hub documents the 72-hour retention when it is off and the 18-month auto-delete default when it is on. Nothing on this page was incorrect; every Gmail setting above was re-checked and is unchanged.

What changed (August 20, 2026): added the pointer to Search personalization, which is a different Google setting from the Gmail toggles on this page and gained new controls on August 20, 2026. Nothing on this page was incorrect; the two settings are simply easy to confuse.

What changed (August 10, 2026): added three sections this page did not answer -- whether turning the settings off erases what Google already learned (it does not; Google's support page says those learnings "may persist"), how to turn the features back on, and what a work or school administrator controls (Admin console, super administrator only, up to 24 hours to apply, per Google's admin guide). Nothing previously on this page was incorrect; every Gmail setting above was re-checked and is unchanged.

What changed (August 1, 2026): added the dependency between the third settings group and Gemini's Personal Intelligence. Google's Personal Intelligence help article states that "Gemini Apps can't connect to Google Workspace" while "smart features in other Google products" is off, which means the opt-out documented on this page also blocks the Gemini app from ever reading your Gmail, Calendar and Drive. Nothing on this page was incorrect; the connection was simply missing. Every Gmail setting above was re-checked and is unchanged.