Google is officially killing Gemini Gems

If you’re an avid Gemini user and have created a bunch of Gemini Gems tailored to your needs and preferences, we have good and bad news for you today. After months of hearing about Google’s plans to sunset Gems in favor of Skills, and finding code in the Google app hinting at the same, Google has finally made an official announcement.

Opening the Gems manager in Gemini now shows a banner announcing Google’s plan to end Gems support starting November 17. That’s the bad news, but there’s a bit of good news as well, though with some confusion that Google has yet to clear up.

According to the banner, Google will start “migrating your Gems to Skills” starting November 17, and you will be able to use your Gems until they are migrated. Theoretically, this could take longer than a few days, which makes it seem as though your Gems might last for a few extra days past that mid-November deadline. You will also be able to continue using your Gems in the form of Skills once they are migrated, so you won’t lose all the work you put into them.

The confusing part lies in Google’s plans for giving users access to Skills. While Gems are available to all users, including those with free accounts, Skills are (as of right now) only available to those with a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription and access to Gemini Spark.

If Google migrates Gems to Skills, is it also planning to let users with free accounts create and access Skills in Gemini? That would be the logical conclusion. However, the “Learn More” button in the banner currently leads to a Google Support page that doesn’t exist. That page will likely include a more detailed explanation of Google’s plans regarding Skills access for free accounts.

For now, you should prepare for Gems to go away in a little over a month’s time. Here’s hoping Google won’t just hang free users out to dry, migrating their Gems to Skills and forcing them to upgrade to a Google AI Pro or Ultra account to access those Skills.

We have reached out to Google for comment and will update this story when we hear back.