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How to turn off Gemini and smart features in Gmail

Gmail's AI features — the Gemini summaries above emails, the sparkle icon in the compose window, Smart Reply, Smart Compose and the rest — are controlled by three switches in Settings, not one. Most people find the first and stop there, which is why Gemini keeps reappearing. This guide turns off all three from a desktop browser, and covers the mobile app in Variations.

What you'll need: A Gmail account and a desktop or laptop browser. If you use Gmail through work or school, your administrator may have locked some of these settings — see Troubleshooting.

Open Gmail settings

Go to mail.google.com, click the gear icon (⚙️) near the top-right, then click See all settings.

Stay on the General tab

Settings opens on the General tab. All three switches are on this tab, so you won't need to go anywhere else.

Turn off smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet

Scroll down to the Smart features section and switch off Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet.

Gmail may show a box listing what you'll lose and asking you to confirm. Confirm it.

This is the switch that removes Smart Compose, Smart Reply, nudges ("Received 3 days ago. Reply?"), the summary cards above delivery and travel emails, and automatic sorting into the Primary, Promotions and Social tabs. Google also ties its spelling and grammar suggestions to this setting. Search, spam filtering and your labels are not affected.

Open the Workspace smart feature settings

Scroll a little further to Google Workspace smart features and click Manage Workspace smart feature settings. A panel opens with two more switches.

Turn off smart features in Google Workspace

Switch off Smart features in Google Workspace.

This is the switch Gemini actually sits behind. With it off, the Gemini side panel, the "Summarise this email" button and Help me write disappear from Gmail, and Gmail stops feeding events and bookings into Google Calendar.

Turn off smart features in other Google products

In the same panel, switch off Smart features in other Google products. This stops Google Maps, Google Pay, Assistant and other Google services using what's in your Gmail.

Click Save to close the panel.

Save your settings

Scroll to the bottom of the General tab and click Save Changes. Gmail reloads. The sparkle icon and the Gemini panel should be gone, and the compose window no longer suggests text as you type.

Variations

Turn them off in the Gmail app on Android

Tap the menu (☰) at the top-left, then Settings, then tap your email address. Under General, turn off Smart features, then tap Google Workspace smart features and turn off both switches inside. The settings are per account, so they apply everywhere you use that account, including the desktop version.

Turn them off in the Gmail app on iPhone

Tap the menu (☰), then Settings, then tap your email address. Tap Data privacy, turn off Smart features, then open Google Workspace smart features and turn off both switches inside. Smart Reply and Smart Compose have their own switches on the same account settings screen if they are still showing.

Keep spelling suggestions but lose Gemini

If the only thing you want gone is Gemini, do steps 4 to 7 and leave the Gmail, Chat and Meet switch in step 3 on. You keep Smart Compose, nudges, inbox tabs and spelling and grammar suggestions, and Gemini still disappears.

Troubleshooting

The switches are already off

In the UK, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and Japan, Google leaves smart features off until you opt in, so you may find nothing to change. If Gemini is still visible with everything off, see the next item.

Gemini is still there after turning everything off

Sign out and back in, or try a private browsing window, to rule out a cached version of the page. If it still shows and you use a work or school account, Gemini is being turned on by your organisation's Google Workspace administrator, and only they can switch it off for your account.

My inbox has lost its Primary, Promotions and Social tabs

Those tabs rely on the Gmail, Chat and Meet switch in step 3. To get them back without bringing Gemini back, turn that one switch on again and leave the two Workspace switches from steps 5 and 6 off.

Does this stop Google training its AI on my emails?

These switches control which features read your email, not AI training. Google says the content of personal Gmail accounts is not used to train its public Gemini models in either case. Ad personalisation is a separate setting, at myadcenter.google.com.

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