--- title: "Change your chat settings" description: "Choose how Bearly responds in one conversation, set defaults for new chats, and control the personal context shared with AI models." canonical: "https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings/" markdown: "https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings.md" --- # Change your chat settings HTML: [https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings/](https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings/) > Choose how Bearly responds in one conversation, set defaults for new chats, and control the personal context shared with AI models. Chat settings let you choose the model, language, response style, memory, web search, reasoning, instructions, and creativity that Bearly uses. You can change one conversation without affecting the rest, or establish defaults for chats you create later. The same Settings window is available in Bearly chat on the web, desktop, iOS, and Android. A feature-specific control may be absent on a platform that does not support that feature. ## Open chat settings From an open conversation: 1. Select the sliders icon beside the message box. 2. Under **Settings**, select **Chat Settings**. 3. Bearly opens **Settings** → **Chats** → **This Chat**. You can also open your account menu and select **App Settings**. Choose **This Chat**, **New Chats**, or **Personalization** under **Chats**. On a narrow screen, these panes appear in the selector at the top of Settings instead of a list beside the content. ## Choose the right scope | Pane | What it changes | | --- | --- | | **This Chat** | The open conversation only. It does not change another existing chat or your defaults. | | **New Chats** | Chats you create afterward. It does not rewrite settings in existing conversations. | | **Personalization** | Profile context that can be included across your conversations when you turn it on. | In an ordinary chat, **Reset all to defaults** appears after you override one or more **This Chat** settings. Select it to return that conversation to your **New Chats** choices. > **Note — Projects have their own defaults** > **New Chats** does not provide general defaults while you are inside a project. Open **Project Settings** to configure project chat settings. A project's settings take priority over your general **New Chats** choices. ## Choose how Bearly responds The controls shown in **This Chat** and **New Chats** are nearly identical: | Setting | What it controls | | --- | --- | | **Model** | The AI model used for the conversation. **Recommended**, available under **New Chats**, lets Bearly choose an available model rather than pinning one. | | **Language** | The language Bearly should use for its responses. | | **Response Style** | The usual tone and level of detail. Choose **Normal**, **Classic**, **No Style**, **Learning**, **Concise**, **Explanatory**, or **Formal**. | | **Memories** | **Auto** lets Bearly recall relevant context from earlier chats; **Off** prevents automatic memory recall in this chat. | | **Web Search** | **Auto** lets Bearly decide when current web information would help; **Off** prevents automatic web search. | | **Reasoning Effort** | Choose **Default**, **None**, **Low**, **Medium**, **High**, or **Extra High** to guide how much reasoning the selected model should apply. | | **Instructions** | Add standing directions for the conversation, such as the audience, preferred format, or facts Bearly should keep in mind. | | **Temperature** | Move from **Focused** toward **Creative**, or use **Factual**, **Default**, and **Creative** presets. Values above 1.5 may produce incoherent output. | Available models and controls can differ by plan, platform, project, and team policy. If an administrator has locked a setting, Bearly uses the managed value and may omit that control from **This Chat**. ## Manage long-conversation history History is a conversation-level control in the chat menu rather than the Settings window: 1. Select the sliders icon beside the message box. 2. Under **Search**, select **History**. 3. Choose one of the two modes: - **Chat (Dynamic)** is the default. It keeps the conversation moving by reducing older context as needed. - **Agentic (Compaction)** summarizes older parts of a long conversation when necessary. When that happens, the chat shows **Conversation compacted so you can keep going**. Changing **History** affects the open conversation. It does not change the history mode of other chats. ## Add personal context Open **App Settings** → **Chats** → **Personalization**, then: 1. Turn on **Personalization**. 2. Add the **Name** Bearly should use, your **Occupation**, and any useful context under **About you**. 3. Wait for **Saved** before closing Settings. When Personalization is on, the profile details you enter are shared with the AI models used in your conversations so they can tailor their responses. Turning Personalization off stops including that profile context; the fields remain unavailable until you turn it on again. A project owner can disable Personalization for a project. In that case, Bearly does not include your profile context in that project's chats even if the account-level switch is on. ## Know when a change is saved Settings save automatically. The Settings header can show **Saving...**, **Saved**, or **Not saved**. - If you see **Saving...**, leave Settings open until the save completes. - If you see **Not saved**, check your connection and make the change again. Settings remains open when a pending change cannot be saved. - For **Instructions** and other text fields, click or tap outside the field after editing, then wait for **Saved**. ## If a setting is missing or has no effect | What you see | What to do | | --- | --- | | **New Chats** says defaults are unavailable in project chats | Open that project's **Project Settings** and change its chat settings there. | | A model or control is not listed | It may be unavailable on your plan, restricted by a team policy, or disabled for the project. Ask the project owner or team administrator when applicable. | | One conversation behaves differently from your defaults | Open **This Chat** and select **Reset all to defaults** if the option is shown. | | Responses are erratic or incoherent | Lower **Temperature** to **Default** or **Factual**, then send the request again. | | Personalization does not affect a project chat | Check whether the project's settings disable Personalization. | | Settings shows **Not saved** | Keep Settings open, restore your connection, and retry the change. | For more on memory scope in projects, see [Use memory and search](https://bearly.ai/docs/features/memory-search.md). ## Continue through the documentation - [Documentation index](https://bearly.ai/docs.md): Browse every Bearly guide. - [Previous: Set team policies](https://bearly.ai/docs/teams/policies.md) - [Next: Manage billing and review usage](https://bearly.ai/docs/account/billing-usage.md) - [Related: Find conversations and control memories](https://bearly.ai/docs/features/memory-search.md)