How to download your AI chat data from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and five more

The Morse teamPublished October 26, 20269 min read

As of October 2026, you download your AI chat data from each app's own settings: ChatGPT and Claude email you a link from their data or privacy settings, Gemini exports through Google Takeout, Meta AI through Download your information in Accounts Center, Copilot through Microsoft's privacy dashboard, Grok from Data Controls, Perplexity from Export my data on its account page, and Character.AI from Export Data. Depending on the app, the file arrives at once or takes up to 30 days, and when an export leaves something out, a formal access request under GDPR Article 15 or the CCPA is how you ask for the rest.

We read each company's help pages, privacy policies, and privacy portals on October 26, 2026, along with the text of the GDPR and the guidance from the UK's and California's regulators. Asking is common. OpenAI says it got 5,986,331 data access requests worldwide in 2025, through its Privacy Portal, by email, and in ChatGPT itself, and answered them in "less than four days" on average (OpenAI).

Which AI apps let you download your chats, and how long does it take?

All eight have a self-serve export. We built the table from each company's own pages, read October 26, 2026.

How do you export ChatGPT data?

Open Settings, then Data controls, and select Export under Export data; OpenAI says the emailed link can take up to 7 days to arrive and "expires 24 hours after you receive it" (OpenAI). The phone steps and the Privacy Portal route for a locked-out account are in step 1 of our guide to deleting ChatGPT history for good.

How do you export Claude chats?

From Settings, then Privacy, then Export data on the web or in Claude Desktop, though on a Team or Enterprise plan the button appears only if an owner has turned on Allow members to export their own data, and those exports leave out "the contents of files you uploaded" (Anthropic). For anything else, Anthropic's privacy policy says to email privacy@anthropic.com and promises a GDPR answer "within one calendar month," extendable by two months for a complex request.

How do you download Gemini chat history?

With Google Takeout. At takeout.google.com, choose Deselect all, tick Gemini for your Gems, then tick My Activity, open All activity data included, choose Deselect all again, and tick only Gemini Apps. Pick email, Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box, then .zip or .tgz, and Create export (Google).

Google says "most people get the link to their archive the same day," and that downloading "doesn't delete it from Google's servers." The archive copies your Gemini Apps Activity, so two kinds of chat sit outside it. Chats you had with Keep Activity off are "retained with your account for 72 hours," not saved to your activity, and chats a human reviewer read are "disconnected from your account" and kept for up to three years (Google). For anything beyond your activity, Google's privacy policy points to a form to contact Google. Our guide to deleting Gemini history covers the same settings from the other side.

How do you download your Meta AI information?

From Accounts Center. In the Meta AI app, tap Menu, then Settings, then Data & privacy, Manage your information, and Download your information. Tap Export your information, Create export, pick the profile, and choose Export to device or Export to external service. You can narrow it by type of information and date range, and pick HTML or JSON (Meta).

Meta's page warns of a long wait: "It may take up to 30 days for us to email you a download link," and once it's ready you have 4 days to download it. It also says "your file won't include content that you've deleted from your Meta AI account." We cover what Meta keeps from those chats in is Meta AI private.

How do you download your Grok data?

From Data Controls. The consumer FAQ, now published under the SpaceXSI name, says "go to your Grok mobile app or Grok.com (Settings/Data Controls) to delete or download your data" (SpaceXSI). Neither page we read says what format the file comes in. The privacy portal offers Make a Privacy Request for anyone who can't sign in, and the privacy policy asks for your full legal name, email, and city, state or province, and country with it (SpaceXSI).

Grok used on X is a separate case. The policy says Grok on the X platform is governed by X's privacy policy, so for those chats, start with X's own download tools.

How do you export Copilot chat history?

From Microsoft's privacy dashboard. Sign in at account.microsoft.com/privacy, go to Copilot, then Your Copilot app activity history, and under Copilot apps select Export all activity history. A CSV file downloads to your device (Microsoft). For Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook, and the other Microsoft 365 apps, choose Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps and its own export. This covers personal Microsoft accounts only; Microsoft keeps a separate article for work and school accounts.

Microsoft's privacy statement, last updated September 2026, says "Not all personal data processed by Microsoft can be accessed or controlled via the tools." For the rest, it points to its privacy support and requests page. We look at what Copilot keeps in is Copilot private.

Can you export Perplexity threads?

Yes, from your account page. Perplexity's GDPR help article says "Right to Access is self-serve. Sign in and visit https://www.perplexity.ai/account/details, then click the Export my data button. You will receive an email with a download link to your data" (Perplexity). It doesn't say what format the file comes in or how long the email takes.

Perplexity's help center disagrees with itself here. The copy of the same article on its Intercom help site, last updated March 3, 2026, still says "we currently do not support the right to Right to Access for self serve" and tells you to "contact customer support with a request for information" (Perplexity on Intercom). Both were live on October 26, 2026. If the button isn't on your account page, use the support route. Perplexity's account settings page adds that it "cannot transfer data from one account to another," and suggests adding your sessions to a project instead (Perplexity). Our review of Perplexity's privacy covers what it keeps.

How do you download Character.AI data?

From Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data, then Export Data on the website, and Character.AI says the emailed link "can take 3-4 weeks" and works for 7 days (Character.AI). If you plan to leave afterward, our guide to deleting a Character.AI account has the next steps.

What does an AI chat export leave out?

The companies' own pages name these gaps:

• Anything you deleted. OpenAI says an export "cannot restore" deleted chats, and Meta says your file "won't include content that you've deleted."
• Chats kept apart from your account. Google's reviewed Gemini chats are disconnected from your account, and its Takeout copies your activity.
• Your uploaded files, on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan.
• Changes made while the export runs. Google's archive may "not include changes made to your data" between your request and the archive's creation.
• Data the tools don't reach. Microsoft says so in its privacy statement.

A self-serve export also doesn't tell you who your data was shared with or how long it's kept. A formal request does.

How do you file a data access request for your AI chats?

Write to the company's privacy address and name the law. Under GDPR Article 15, you're entitled to a copy of your personal data and to be told the purposes, the recipients, how long it will be stored, and where data not collected from you came from. The first copy is free, and a request made electronically gets an answer "in a commonly used electronic form." Article 12(3) gives the company one month, extendable by two more for complex requests. In California, the Attorney General says a business must answer a request to know "within 45 calendar days," extendable to 90 if it tells you, and may refuse if it has already given you your data "more than twice in a 12-month period."

The UK ICO suggests putting "subject access request" in the subject line, giving your account email, and being specific about what you want. For an AI app, ask for your conversations, your saved memories, files you uploaded, any copies of your chats kept for safety review or model training, and the list of recipients. Then send it here:

• OpenAI: privacy.openai.com or dsar@openai.com.
• Anthropic: privacy@anthropic.com.
• Google: the contact Google form linked from its privacy policy.
• Meta: Access your information in its privacy policy, alongside Download your information.
• SpaceXSI (Grok): Make a Privacy Request at x.ai/privacy-portal.
• Microsoft: its privacy support and requests page.
• Perplexity: its Data Privacy Form or support team, which its GDPR page names for formal requests.
• Character.AI: its support form or privacy@character.ai, which its privacy policy lists.

At SpaceXSI, few people take this route. Its report for 2025 counts 229,589 account data downloads by US users through Data Controls, against 20 requests to know from California residents through its privacy team, both answered in 1 day on average (SpaceXSI). This isn't legal advice.

How Morse leaves almost nothing on a server to request

Every export and access request above exists because the company keeps a copy of your chats on its servers, tied to your account. Morse is built so that copy doesn't exist. Your chat history, Studio images, personas, characters you make, and settings are stored in your browser, encrypted, and our servers don't keep messages or log what you write. Your Morse account holds your sign-in details, plan, balance, and a usage ledger with no content. Attached files are sent with the message and never stored by Morse, and temporary chats are kept in memory only.

Because your chats are stored only in your browser, clearing the browser, losing the device, or deleting your account deletes them, and Morse can't recover them. Copy anything you'll need into your own notes before you clear your browser or switch devices.

Each chat then picks who handles the message on its way to the model:

• Private, so the model's host keeps no copy either. It's the default for a new chat. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, plus Grok, run under zero data retention, because Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers.
• E2EE, for a chat no one but you should read. Your browser checks the enclave's proof that it's genuine, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and our servers relay ciphertext they can't read. The enclaves are run by third-party providers, not by Morse, and the guarantee rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed.
• Anonymous, for GPT, Claude, or Gemini without the provider knowing it's you. Our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address and sends under Morse's account. The provider may keep the message for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy.

Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads, and because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities. Our privacy policy has the details.

You can try a chat from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no card. End-to-end encrypted chats come with Pro, at $19 a month.