Gemini Chat Glitches: When Custom Gems and Long Conversations Stall

Gemini Chat Glitches: When Custom Gems and Long Conversations Stall

Google Gemini, a powerful AI assistant within the Google Workspace ecosystem, is designed to streamline workflows and enhance productivity. However, a recent thread on the Google support forum highlights a concerning issue where users are encountering significant glitches with long-running chats, particularly those leveraging custom ‘Gems.’ This problem can severely disrupt ongoing projects and impact how users interact with their Google dashboard G Suite tools for AI-driven tasks.

The Problem: Endless Spinning and Lost Context

The core of the issue, as reported by a user identified as 'gemini_platform,' is that existing Gemini chats — both those initiated with custom Gems and some long-running standard conversations — are failing to respond. Instead of generating a reply, the interface displays a continuously spinning icon, indicating that Gemini is attempting to process the request but ultimately failing. Crucially, no error messages are thrown, leaving users without any diagnostic information.

Custom Gems are tailored AI tools built within Gemini, allowing users to create specialized functionalities. Initially, these Gems worked perfectly for the user, enabling them to build extensive, context-rich conversations. However, 'this week' (around April 2026), these established chats abruptly stopped working. When a new prompt is added to an existing Gem-based chat, it simply stalls indefinitely.

Key Observations from the Community Thread:

• New Chats Work: Interestingly, when the user starts a fresh conversation using the same custom Gem, it functions as expected. This suggests the problem is tied to the history or state of long-running conversations rather than the Gem itself.
• Non-Gem Chats Affected: The issue isn't exclusive to custom Gems. The user discovered another long-running chat, built from scratch without a Gem, also exhibiting the same 'endless spinning' behavior. This broadens the scope of the problem beyond just custom integrations.
• No Error Messages: The lack of any explicit error or timeout message is particularly frustrating, as it provides no clues for troubleshooting.

Impact on Productivity and Google Workspace

For professionals relying on Gemini for complex tasks, this bug means a significant loss of valuable context. Chats that have been ongoing for weeks, accumulating helpful information and refined responses, become unusable. Users are forced to restart conversations, losing all the accumulated history and efficiency gains. This directly impacts the seamless operation expected from a comprehensive platform like Google Workspace, affecting how users manage their daily tasks and interact with their Google dashboard for various services.

Community Response and Next Steps

A Google Volunteer Expert, Mário Lúcio, engaged with the user, requesting clearer screenshots and confirming if new conversations worked. While this helped clarify the scope of the problem, a definitive solution or explanation has not yet been provided. The thread underscores the need for Google to investigate and address this regression promptly to ensure Gemini remains a reliable and productive tool for its users.

While there isn't a direct solution from the thread, the temporary workaround involves starting new conversations. However, this is far from ideal for users who depend on the continuity and context of their existing Gemini chats. We encourage users experiencing similar issues to report them through official channels to help Google prioritize a fix.