Following Google’s rollout of Gemini 3.1, many users have been distressed to find that their entire chat histories have vanished. In some cases, this amounts to months of communication with the AI chatbot.
While this is clearly a worrying situation for anyone who finds themselves without access to their past conversations with Gemini, it is something that Google is aware of and is actively working on. Here is what we know so far.
News of the lost Gemini chat histories was first reported by The Register which points to complaints from its readers as well as those posted in Google support forums. Confusion stems from the vanishing of chats, with users saying that there was “no evidence in the activity log of them having ever existed”.
Another disgruntled message reads:
I feel your pain! Mine literally disappeared at 3:48 a.m. this morning with the excuse that because of the 3.1 roll out at the very same time of day this is why this happened making everyone’s chat history go poof into an Oblivion.
And now it’s approaching what 19 hours later and nothing and in the meantime Gemini dodges every single accountability as to what is currently happening.
I’m afraid Google has become too big for its own britches to where it thinks it’s untouchable and can literally wipe out people’s lives in an instant.
Another user posted a possible workaround, but it seems to have mixed results:
1. The “Deep Refresh”
Sometimes the browser or app gets stuck on a cached version of your chat list.
- On Desktop: Do a “Hard Refresh” by pressing Ctrl + F5 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac).
- On Mobile: Fully close the Gemini app (swipe it away from your recent apps) and restart your phone.
2. Sign Out and Back In
This is often the most effective way to force a fresh sync with your Google Account.
- Sign out of your Google account on your browser and the Gemini app.
- Clear your browser’s cache and cookies specifically for google.com.
- Sign back in. This often “pokes” the system into reloading your full history.
3. Check for the “Missing URL”
Since you have a Pro subscription, your chats are often tied to specific URLs.
- Go to your browser history (Ctrl + H or Cmd + Y) and search for “gemini.google.com/app“.
- If you find a link to a specific past chat, click it. Sometimes, opening a direct link to an “invisible” chat forces the entire sidebar to wake up and populate.
4. Use the “Activity” Workaround
If the sidebar still won’t budge and you need that info ASAP for your professional work:
- In your Gemini Activity page, click on a specific prompt.
- While it doesn’t show the full “pretty” chat, it contains the text. You can copy and paste your important prompts into a Google Doc to keep your project moving while the sync issue is resolved.
5. Contact Priority Support
As a Gemini Pro (Google One) subscriber, you actually have access to priority support. If these steps don’t work, I’d recommend reaching out to them directly via the Google One Support page. They can look deeper into your account’s sync status than we can here in the community.
The problem is spread across both desktop and mobile versions of Gemini. The timing of history loss coincides with the release of Gemini 3.1 but – despite a lot of speculation to the contrary – there is currently no evidence to suggest that the rollout is in any way to blame for what has gone wrong.
The good news is that Google has acknowledged the issue and seemingly knows how to fix it. In a statement, the company says:
We’re currently fixing a bug that temporarily hid chat history for a small number of users. Chat history for impacted users will be restored shortly. We know this is frustrating and are working quickly to resolve it.
