“Gemini Gems disappearing in October?” Preparing for Skills migration today even without official confirmation
The “October 20” notification appearing on screens: What we know now
“Gemini Gems will be discontinued on October 20, 2026”—reports from overseas media suggest that this English notification has started appearing on some users' screens🤔
First, a quick note on terminology. Gems are custom AIs in Gemini with fixed roles, such as for “proofreading” or “research.” You create them from Gems in the sidebar, save their name, instructions, and files, and call them up whenever you need. It’s okay if you haven’t used them before. For this article, please think of them as “your own personal AI assistant presets.”
The summary of the notification is: “Gems will retire on October 20. Save your content or recreate them as skills.” It doesn’t say everything will be moved automatically. From here on, let’s read by separating whether they are truly disappearing and what you should do before they do.
I totally understand why those who have created many Gems would stop in their tracks just from those two lines. “Gems are retiring October 20,” “Save your Gem content or recreate them as skills.” For Gems you use every day—like those for editing text, weekly summaries, or research assistance—the thought of “I’ll be in trouble if they disappear” comes first.
But remember, the important thing right now is not to panic. What we know now can be divided into three points. First, we cannot say for sure that this text is an “official announcement that appeared on everyone’s screen.” Second, many reports say the location where it was found is deep within the settings of the Gemini web interface. Third, there is still weak confirmation that Google has officially said “it ends on October 20.” Mixing these three together makes for a scary story, but reading them separately reveals the work you can do today💡
📌 What we know now
TestingCatalog reports that they have confirmed the notification text. The content is roughly “it ends on October 20” and “save your Gem content or recreate them as skills,” and it does not state that everything will be moved automatically. This means that the more Gems you have, the more manual work will be required.
Android Authority is also following the same topic, emphasizing that Skills (described later), which are considered the migration destination, are currently intended for paid plans and Spark. At the same time, they include a caveat that “it might not be a decided matter yet,” maintaining a stance of not assuming that a notification on a screen that hasn't appeared for everyone is a confirmed schedule.
In Japan, HelenTech introduces the wording on the screen while noting that “an official announcement has not been confirmed.” There are also reports that the notification has not appeared in some environments. Since this is a topic where some people see it and others don’t, it’s best not to treat the screen in front of you as the absolute truth for everyone.
So, what is on the official page? The “What’s new for Gemini Spark” page describes the progress of releasing Skills and Schedules. While there is a flow of it starting in the US and expanding by plan, there is no confirmed date stating “Gems will end on October 20.” It is safer to treat leaked dates and official release notes as separate things✅
Gems and Skills are “similar but different” custom layers
Let’s take a moment here to organize what the “skills” mentioned in the notification are. In short, they are “reusable procedure parts” used within a new work mode called Gemini Spark. Spark is an extension of Gemini that allows you to work while connected to Gmail, Drive, etc., and Skills are close to “how-to memos” within that. If a Gem is your “usual buddy chat,” Skills are your “recipe collection used in the background”—that understanding is enough💡
Even though the names sound similar, they look like successors to the same thing, but they are stored in different places. If you get this wrong, you’ll end up swinging and missing, thinking you’ve moved them. “From Gems to Skills” is not just a rephrasing of appearance, but a task of recreating them in a different place with different prerequisites🤔
💡 What is a Gem?
A Gem is a mechanism for talking repeatedly with the same role. You save the name and instructions, and you can add files if necessary. The more you write about the purpose, tone, and output format, the easier it becomes to use. While it is explained that Gems created on the web can also be used on smartphones and the Workspace side, there are limitations, such as not being able to use them in Gemini Live. In short, a Gem is something that fixes your “usual buddy chat.”
Creation is centered on the web; you open Gems from the sidebar and enter the name and instructions in New Gem. You can edit or delete them later, and there is a note that shared Gems will not appear in your list until you interact with them once. You don’t usually worry about it, but it’s effective when taking inventory. It’s better to write the purpose, how to answer, and the output format in the instructions, and there is also a way to start with a short sentence and have Gemini refine it. Reading the official tips before migrating makes it easier to create the text to paste into Skills💡
🚀 What are Skills?
Skills are the “reusable procedures” used in Gemini Spark, which I mentioned earlier. The official documentation states that Spark itself uses connected apps, Skills, and chat history to proceed with subsequent work. Rather than Skills being an independent app, they are parts of Spark, and it feels like the focus is shifting from “customizing conversations” to “parts for work proceeding in the background.”
For example, the “skill” part of “create a weekly report (task) → every Monday at 9 AM (schedule) → using this procedure (skill)” is the candidate for this migration. The official documentation explains tasks, schedules, and skills separately: a task is “what you want to do,” a schedule is “when to run it,” and a skill is “how to do it.” Necessary Skills can be used automatically during work, and can also be used by specifying them with “/”. You can combine multiple Skills into one task, and if a Gem is a “chat with a role,” Skills feel closer to “work procedure manuals.”
For those hearing about Skills for the first time, there is another confusing name to watch out for💦. There is also a feature called "Skills" on the Chrome side, and some distinguish between the saved prompts called with a slash and Spark's Skills. If you move them to the wrong place, the content won't go anywhere, so when someone says "a replacement for Gems," the first thing to check is the screen. Can you switch to Spark, or does the Skills page open? You can tell a lot from these two things. Don't be fooled by the name; look at the location on the screen you are currently viewing✅
What I want to convey in this article is not the truth behind the rumors, but the steps to keep your Gems in a form that can be moved. Now that you understand the difference between Gems and Skills, it should make sense why backing them up comes first. Whether the official side takes action or not, if you get the text out, you can choose the next container. You don't need to move everything tonight; let's first create a state where you can recreate them even if they disappear🚀
The condition gap that free Gem users will encounter first
This is the biggest hurdle you'll face💦. Gems have been usable for free, and their strength was being able to use the same instructions in the same place with almost the same feeling. According to the current official explanation, the conditions for Skills are quite heavy.
📌 Conditions required for Skills
18 years or older
Personal Google account (work/school accounts are not allowed)
Google AI Pro or Ultra
Keep Activity turned on
Unavailable in some regions (EEA, UK, Switzerland, Nigeria, etc.)
Available in places like the Gemini app or gemini.google.com
If even one condition is missing, it's not a matter of "moving to the same successor." If you judge only by the price, you will be stopped later by your account or region. The order to check is: price, account, region, Keep Activity, and whether Spark opens—that's the easiest way💡. The prerequisites for Spark are mostly the same, and there is also talk that if you use it too much, you will approach the limit. "Being able to create" and "being able to use it every day" are different things.
It's also reassuring to know how it's handled after cancellation; the official statement says Skills are not deleted but turned off. The explanation is that having the data remain and being able to use it every day are different, and you need to return to a supported plan to use it again. This is especially tough for those who have been cultivating Gems for work, as it is clearly stated that Skills cannot be used with work or school accounts. Since you can't necessarily move Gems used at work directly to Skills, it's better to admit early on that this isn't a matter of just changing one setting🤔. When the three factors of free-to-paid, personal account, and available region come together, it doesn't look like a "migration of the same functionality." If you have work-related Gems, it's more realistic to treat it as a separate issue: whether to copy them to your personal side or move them to a different tool. Gemini Spark also appears in the list of Google One benefits, but the way regions are written can vary depending on the page. The most reliable way is to see if Spark and Skills actually open with the account you are using. Don't decide that you can "use it" just by reading the text; check if you can reach the screen and if you can create new items there✅
Inventory of Gem assets to take out before they disappear
There is no official announcement in current reports that everything will move automatically. Therefore, the first step is not to open Spark, but to get the contents of your Gems out to your PC. The instructions you've written down are the core, more so than the menu names on the screen💡
✨ These four points are what you should keep
The following four points are enough to save.
Gem name
Full text of instructions
The files themselves added to Knowledge
The one sentence you always type first
You can't recreate them just by having the name, and without the instructions, the tone and prohibited items won't return. If you don't have the files, Gems that rely on references will be empty, and without that first sentence, it's hard to reproduce your usual way of calling them. Only when all four points are gathered are you in a state where you can 'migrate' them. You don't need to make everything perfect; it's more effective to finish the top five you'd be in trouble without tonight. The priority is easy to understand: things you use often, things that can't be replaced, and things with a large impact on your work. Let's protect the daily proofreading Gem before the weekly Gem ✅
The reason for leaving them in plain text is simple: you can pour the same material into the next box, whether it's Skills or another AI. If you close them as PDFs or images, you might not be able to upload them later, so it's easier to convert docx and images to text first. If you put the date in the folder name like gem-backup-20260810, it's easier to track later. It's even easier if you have a template for how to write them: make one Gem into one note, and fix the headings as Name, Description, Instructions, Files, First Sentence, and Notes. If you leave notes like 'Used only for work account' or 'Drive reference is essential' in the notes section, it's faster to judge whether it can be loaded into Skills 💡. I think this kind of inventory is plain work, but it's more effective than chasing notifications. If you move them into a 'migratable format' before reacting to 'they might disappear,' you can restore them regardless of which way the official announcement goes. There will be a moment when your own notes look more reliable than unread banners ✨
The shortest route to migrating to Skills (screen operations and SKILL.md)
If your account meets the conditions, you can follow the official procedure to recreate them. Switch to Spark at gemini.google.com and open Skills. There are roughly four entry points.
🔧 Entry points for creation
Create with Gemini (create while talking)
Fix recommended templates
Create manually (write in empty fields)
Upload (SKILL.md, or a zip containing it)
It's best to decide which one to choose based on the completeness of your inventory; Gems with short instructions are faster to create manually. Gems where only the purpose remains are better recreated while talking to Gemini, and Gems you've already organized into notes are easier to reproduce using Upload 🚀 If you use Upload, check the restrictions first. The name should be lowercase with hyphens (e.g., my-research-helper), and the total size should be up to 100MB. What you can use is mainly text, code, and configuration files; it's written that PDFs, docx, and images are not supported. Scripts that communicate with external sites are also currently unsupported, and since it can fail if hidden files are included, it's safer to zip the cleaned-up folder on your own device ✅ After creating it, try it once and specify it with '/'. Check if the settings used automatically are as expected, and you can fix them by editing directly or while talking to Gemini. If you take a zip with Download, you can duplicate it as a local backup. The official site warns that deletion cannot be undone, so it's safer to copy before touching it for trial runs 💦
If you are anxious about the screen flow, just tracing the steps in the official help once is enough. There are many explanations for tracking the relationship between tasks, Skills, and schedules, but none of them are 'proof that Gems have been decided to be abolished.' If you look at it as an aid to operation, you won't get lost if you just grasp these three points: 'make work you've done once into reusable parts,' 'call with /,' and 'place as parts for subsequent work' 💡
Those who do not meet the conditions should not force them onto Spark. If you store the plain text instruction set in a form that can be used elsewhere, that storage will become a bridge to the next official announcement. There might be an option to temporarily place them in Chrome-side skills, but the main path in this article is Spark Skills and external notes. To avoid mixing them up, make a one-line note of the storage location and purpose ✅
What is happening compared to other companies' 'reusable AI'
Other companies are solving the same problem in different boxes. Custom GPTs are strong for public use and external service connection, and Claude Skills are easy to carry with folders and SKILL.md. They become candidates when you want to share the same procedure with a team. Gemini Gems are often organized as being close to work around Google, and in workplaces close to Drive and Gmail, the speed of creation was a weapon. Rather than which is best, deciding your main battlefield comes first 🤔
In comparison articles, document volume, sharing range, and fees are often put into tables, but what's important is not the numbers themselves, but 'where you don't want to fail.' Do you not want to fail in how you spread it, in reproducing internal procedures, or in the proximity to Google data? Once the main battlefield is decided, the order of where to migrate is decided 💡
In other comparisons, it's organized that 'where to put subsequent cases' and 'reusable procedures' are different things. Rather than mechanically moving all Gems to Skills, it's sometimes cleaner to separate the context of the case and the procedure parts.
What's interesting is that Gemini's Skills also accept SKILL.md uploads. It's shifting from settings only within the screen to procedures that can be carried as files. That's why it's worth writing today's backup with headings from the start, and the same file is easy to load into Skills and other tools. It's easier later if you write in the order of Name, Description, Procedure, Output Format, and Things Not to Do ✅ The goal of comparison is not winning or losing, but seeing your main battlefield. If you are Google-centric, recreating in Skills is close; if you want to spread it, look at GPTs too. If you don't want to be tied to a specific service, make external storage the standard. The unconfirmed talk of abolition is just a trigger to move that standardization forward ✨
🔧 Peace of mind after copying to notes on a rainy night
Nights spent chasing notifications are inevitably anxious, but the moment you have all four points on hand, the atmosphere changes a little. Your own notes look more reliable than unread banners, and if you have that feeling, you can rebuild no matter which way the official side turns. Don't do a flashy move, but put a quiet insurance in place first. I think that's the strongest way to do it 🤝
A takeaway checklist you can start on today, even before confirmation
You don't have to wait for an official confirmation date; what you can do today is simple. Plus, it's all contained within this text. External links are just there to show where the evidence is located.
🎯 What to do today
Don't mix leaks with official information when reading
Export the four points of your Gem as plain text
Check if your current account meets the Skills requirements by opening the screen
If it does, create just one in Skills and test it up to the / invocation
If it doesn't, use your exported notes as the seed for the next container
For Gems in work accounts, first determine if a separate route is needed
Before deleting anything, create a backup via download or local copy
There is no need to 'move everything tonight.' Just get the first one into a state where it can be recreated if lost. That is the quietest answer to an unconfirmed notification✅. Rather than declaring whether they will disappear, move them into a form where it won't matter if they do. That is enough of a goal for today; gathering materials before an official announcement is faster in the end than panicking after one comes out. The value of a Gem lies in the procedures you've written down, not the name on the menu✨
Miccell - Before worrying about them disappearing, get them into a portable format.