Google to Retire Gemini Gems, Migrating Them to Skills Starting November 17
Google has confirmed it will end support for Gemini Gems and begin migrating them to a new feature called Skills on November 17, leaving unclear whether free account holders will keep access.
The notice appeared in a banner that now shows when users open the Gems manager inside Gemini. The banner states that Google will start moving Gems to Skills on November 17 and that users can continue using each Gem until it is migrated. Because a migration of that kind can take more than a few days, existing Gems may remain available for a short time past the mid-November date. Once transferred, the custom assistants are meant to stay usable in the form of Skills, so users would not lose the work they put into building them.
The announcement follows months of reports that Google planned to sunset Gems in favor of Skills, and comes after code discovered inside the Google app pointed to the same change.
What the notice does not settle is who will be able to use Skills. Gems are currently open to all Gemini users, including those on free accounts. Skills, as of now, are limited to subscribers to Google AI Pro or Ultra who also have access to Gemini Spark. Whether free account holders will be permitted to create and reach Skills after the migration has not been confirmed. The "Learn More" button in the banner currently leads to a Google Support page that does not exist, and that page is expected to carry a fuller explanation of Google's plans for Skills access on free accounts.
Android Authority said it had reached out to Google for comment and would update its report when the company responds. Until then, users who have built Gems have roughly a month before the feature begins to wind down.