Change your chat settings

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.

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.