Google plans to replace Gemini Gems with skills on November 17, 2026. A notice in the Gemini app says Google will migrate existing Gems automatically. People can keep using their Gems until the change, according to TechCrunch’s report.
Gems let people save instructions for a specific assistant, such as a learning coach or a writing editor. After the migration, those saved setups will become skills that people can call inside a task thread by typing / and selecting one. The change moves a custom setup into an ongoing conversation instead of asking the user to open a separate Gem.
What happens to shared Gems?
Google added Gem sharing in 2025. Owners can give other people view or edit access through the Gem manager, much like sharing a file in Google Drive. That makes the migration more than a change to the name in the menu for anyone who built a Gem with colleagues or friends.
The report confirms automatic migration of Gems, but gives no detail on whether sharing permissions, existing links, or edit access will carry over. It also does not say whether a skill called inside a task thread behaves exactly like opening the old Gem. Those details matter most to people who rely on a shared setup for repeat work.
