---
title: "Use zero-data-retention models"
description: "See which models run with zero data retention, restrict Bearly to those models, and understand what the setting covers."
canonical: "https://bearly.ai/docs/zero-data-retention/"
markdown: "https://bearly.ai/docs/zero-data-retention.md"
---

# Use zero-data-retention models

HTML: [https://bearly.ai/docs/zero-data-retention/](https://bearly.ai/docs/zero-data-retention/)

> See which models run with zero data retention, restrict Bearly to those models, and understand what the setting covers.

A zero-data-retention (ZDR) route means the provider handling your request does not keep your prompt or the model's response after it finishes processing them. Bearly labels every model in the picker and gives you one switch that limits chats to ZDR models only.

## Check a model's retention status

Open the model picker in a chat. Each model carries a badge beside its name:

- **ZDR** — the provider on this model's route does not store your prompts or responses after processing.
- **Standard** — this model's route has no verified zero-data-retention guarantee.

Hover the badge, or hold it on a touch screen, to read what the label means for that model.

A model is labeled **ZDR** only when Bearly has verified the retention terms for the route it actually uses and tested that route in production. Anything unverified is labeled **Standard**, so an unknown answer never appears as a privacy guarantee.

## Restrict Bearly to ZDR models

Open your account menu and follow **App Settings** → **Settings** → **Privacy**, then turn on **ZDR models only**.

While the setting is on:

- The model picker lists only models with a verified zero-data-retention route. Models without one are not offered.
- Automatic fallbacks follow the same rule. When Bearly retries your message on a different model because the first one is unavailable, it uses another ZDR route.
- A conversation still set to a model without a ZDR route runs on a comparable model that has one, rather than sending your message to the original.

The setting belongs to your account rather than one device, so it applies in Bearly chat on web, desktop, iOS, and Android once they sync.

> **Note — The setting fails closed**
> If Bearly cannot reach your synced settings, it enforces ZDR-only routes until the connection recovers, and the switch is unavailable until then. A sync problem never quietly downgrades your privacy choice.


## What the setting covers

**ZDR models only** governs the models that write chat replies, including the reasoning and tool-calling steps Bearly runs inside a conversation.

It does not change these, which run on separate models and services:

- Image generation and editing, video generation, text to speech, transcription, and text extraction from uploaded documents.
- Tools that reach outside services on your behalf, such as web search, maps, and connectors. Those send the query they need to the service handling it.

Turn a tool off in **Chat Settings** when a task should not reach outside services at all. See [Change your chat settings](https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings.md).

## Teams

**ZDR models only** is a personal setting; each member turns it on for their own account.

A team administrator can separately decide which models members may use at all. Under **Models** in a team policy, each model row carries the same **ZDR** badge, so an administrator can build an allow-list of zero-data-retention models for the whole team. See [Team Policies](https://bearly.ai/docs/teams/policies.md).

## Related

- [Privacy and security in Bearly](https://bearly.ai/docs/privacy-security.md) — the full set of privacy controls, including personalization, memory, and project passwords.
- [Privacy Policy](https://bearly.ai/privacy-policy.md) — the terms governing personal information, sharing, and retention.

## Continue through the documentation

- [Documentation index](https://bearly.ai/docs.md): Browse every Bearly guide.
- [Previous: Terms of Service](https://bearly.ai/terms-of-service.md)
- [Related: Change your chat settings](https://bearly.ai/docs/settings/chat-settings.md)
- [Related: Set team policies](https://bearly.ai/docs/teams/policies.md)
- [Related: Privacy and security in Bearly](https://bearly.ai/docs/privacy-security.md)
- [Related: Privacy Policy](https://bearly.ai/privacy-policy.md)