Privacy guide

Is Perplexity private? What Perplexity keeps

Perplexity saves your sessions in your History until you delete them, and on Free, Pro, and Max plans it can use your data to train its AI models until you turn off AI data retention. Incognito sessions stay out of memory and expire within 24 hours, and Perplexity says Enterprise data is never used for training.

Checked against the provider’s own help pages. We make Bearly, which this guide also covers.

Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app, with a Zero Data Retention setting.

Perplexity or Comet?

Perplexity's answer engine (the website and apps) and its Comet browser share one privacy notice from Perplexity AI, Inc. Comet keeps most of your browsing data on your device, but when you ask its assistant something, the request goes to Perplexity. The notice doesn't cover data Perplexity handles on an Enterprise customer's behalf. (Perplexity Privacy Notice)

What Perplexity keeps

What Perplexity's own pages say about a personal account, with work accounts in the last row.

What What Perplexity says Source
Your sessions Every session (a question, its follow-ups, and the answers) is saved in your History, which only you can see. Sessions stay there indefinitely until you delete them. Sessions you start while signed out disappear after 14 days. What is a Session?
Your account data Kept as long as your account is active, and removed from Perplexity's servers within 30 days of deleting your account. How long Perplexity retains your data
Training On Free, Pro, and Max plans, AI data retention is on by default, and your data may be used to train AI models. Turning it off covers only data collected afterward. Data Collection at Perplexity
Uploaded files Files attached to a session are kept for 30 days. Deleting the session deletes them. Files in a Project stay until you delete them. Security and Privacy with File Uploads
Incognito Incognito sessions never use or feed memory, expire within 24 hours, and can't be recovered. Memory; Incognito Mode Troubleshooting
Shared sessions Sessions are private by default. Set one to Anyone with the link and anyone who has the link can read it, see the files you uploaded to it, and pass it on. What is a Session?
Ads Perplexity may share identifiers, browsing and search history, and approximate location with advertising partners for targeted advertising. Privacy Notice
Work accounts Enterprise data is never used for AI training, and files attached to sessions are deleted after 7 days. In organizations with 50 or more seats or an Enterprise Max seat, admins can set how long sessions are kept and can enforce Incognito. Data Collection at Perplexity; Data Retention for Enterprise

Make Perplexity more private, step by step

These steps use the labels from Perplexity's own help center for personal accounts. On an Enterprise plan, your organization's settings also apply.

1. Turn off AI data retention

This is the setting that decides whether your data can be used to train AI models.

  1. Open your account settings at perplexity.ai/account/details.
  2. Go to Preferences.
  3. Find the AI data retention toggle. If it's on, your data is being collected for AI training. Turn it off.

The opt-out applies to you only, and only to data collected after you turn it off. Data already collected for training can't be deleted. Perplexity may still process your data to run the service, comply with the law, and improve the product. (Perplexity: Data Collection at Perplexity)

2. Use Incognito for questions you don't want kept

Perplexity offers Incognito in its apps and on parts of its website. It doesn't save your search activity across sessions. Memory and past searches are always off in Incognito, and questions you ask there are never kept in memory. Incognito sessions expire within 24 hours and can't be recovered. To leave Incognito, select the Incognito icon at the top right. (Perplexity: Memory; Incognito Mode Troubleshooting)

Perplexity's pages don't say that Incognito keeps your questions out of training, so leave AI data retention off as well.

3. Decide what Perplexity remembers

Go to Settings, then Memory:

  • Use search history lets Perplexity draw on your past questions and answers.
  • Notes lets it save details from your sessions for future answers.
  • Manage memories opens everything it has saved. Delete one memory with the trash icon, or clear them all.

Turning memory off doesn't delete saved memories. Perplexity may keep a log of cleared memories for up to 30 days. Content from memory can be used to improve Perplexity's models unless AI data retention is off. (Perplexity: Memory)

4. Delete sessions you don't need

  • One session: open your History at perplexity.ai/library, select the three dots beside the session, and delete it. You can also open the session, select its more options icon, and choose Delete.
  • Everything: in your History, select the three dots at the top right and choose to delete all sessions.
  • A Project: select the three dots next to its title and choose Delete.

Deleted sessions can't be recovered. To delete a file you uploaded, Perplexity says to delete the whole session it's in. (Perplexity: Self-Serve Data Deletion; What is a Session?)

5. Keep shared sessions private

Select Share at the top right of a session to see who can open it. Private means only you can see it, even if you've posted the link somewhere. Anyone with the link lets anyone who has it read the session, see the files you uploaded to it, and share it on. Switch a session back to Private at any time, or export it as a PDF to share it without your attachments. (Perplexity: What is a Session?; Security and Privacy with File Uploads)

Projects (some older help pages call them Spaces) are private by default, and on a personal account only the people you invite can open one. (Perplexity: What are Projects?)

6. Export your data or delete your account

  • Export: at perplexity.ai/account/details, select Export my data. Perplexity emails you a download link.
  • Delete: cancel any subscription first. At perplexity.ai/account/details, scroll to Delete account, select Learn more, and confirm.

Your account and data are permanently deleted within 30 days. If you sign back in before that finishes, the deletion is canceled. (Perplexity: Account Deletion; Privacy Notice)

Is Comet safe?

Comet is Perplexity's web browser with an AI assistant built in. It keeps most of your browsing on your device and blocks ad scripts and fingerprinting by default. What matters most is what you let its assistant read and do.

What Comet keeps

  • On your device: browsing history, search history, cookies and site data, cached files, autofill data, and your download list. Perplexity says this doesn't leave your device unless you sync it with your Perplexity account. (Comet: Local Data & Device Storage)
  • With sync on: Perplexity's privacy notice says that, depending on your settings, it records your browsing history and tracks how you use Comet when it's synced to your account. Comet's help center says synced data is encrypted with a passphrase only you control. Choose what syncs in Settings, then Sync. (Privacy Notice; Comet: Sync Between Devices)
  • Memory: Comet uses your Perplexity account's memory, so step 3 above covers it too. Agent actions, like browsing a site for you, aren't stored in memory. (Comet memory)

What the assistant can see and do

By default, Comet's assistant doesn't access or upload your browsing history, your full list of open tabs, cookies, passwords, local files, or what you type on websites. When you ask it something, it sends the context that request needs, such as the visible text of the page you're on or a tab you mention with @tab. Context taken from a page, your history, or your open tabs is kept for up to 30 days, and the session shows as a Temporary Session in your History, where you can delete it. (Comet: Comet Assistant Privacy & Data Use)

The assistant can also click, navigate, and fill in forms for you. The first time an agent runs, Comet asks you to choose Allow this time only, Always allow, or Don't allow. Perplexity says Comet also stops for your confirmation before it sends an email or message, changes your calendar, places a final order, or fills in details about you that it doesn't already know. (Comet Assistant Privacy & Data Use; Perplexity: Mitigating prompt injection in Comet)

One risk is specific to AI browsers: a web page can hide instructions meant to steer the assistant, which is called prompt injection. Perplexity describes several layers of defense against it in Comet, and also says malicious prompt injection "remains an unsolved problem across the industry." (Perplexity: Mitigating prompt injection in Comet)

Comet's own privacy settings

All of these are under Settings, then Privacy and security:

  • Comet Assistant: allow or stop the assistant from using your browser history, navigating the web, and acting on sites, or turn it off entirely. You can also block it on specific websites, such as your bank's. (Comet: Control what Comet Assistant can use)
  • Third-party cookies: these are allowed by default. Set them to Block if you'd rather not be followed across sites, though some logins and payment pages may break. (Comet: Browsing Privacy & Safety)
  • Delete browsing data: clears local data for the time range and data types you pick. It doesn't touch your Perplexity account or its sessions. (Comet: Local Data & Device Storage)
  • Help improve Comet: turn off diagnostic reports. (Comet: Local Data & Device Storage)

An Incognito window doesn't keep your browsing history, cookies, form fills, or passwords after you close it. If you use Comet's AI features in Incognito, your question and the context needed to answer it still go to Perplexity, and the websites you visit, your network, and your internet provider can still see your activity. (Comet: Local Data & Device Storage)

What these settings don't change

These settings control what Perplexity saves and learns from. They don't change who handles your questions.

  • Perplexity still processes everything you send in order to answer it. Every setting above applies after your question reaches Perplexity.
  • Your questions can go to other companies' models. Depending on your plan and the model you pick, Perplexity runs models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI alongside its own Sonar models. Perplexity says its agreements with those providers bar them from training on Perplexity data. (Perplexity: Third-Party Models; Are third-party model providers training on my data?)
  • Ad tracking is a separate choice. On the web, opt out of targeted advertising in the cookie consent pop-up, and set it again in each browser. Perplexity honors Global Privacy Control where the law requires it, but not Do Not Track. In the apps, use your device's settings. (Perplexity)
  • Some data outlasts a deletion request. Perplexity says that in many cases it must keep personal data to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, or for other business purposes. (Perplexity)

Use AI models through Bearly with zero data retention

If you want privacy on every question without remembering to switch modes, there's another option: ask in a different app that runs its models with zero data retention. Bearly is one of those apps. We make it, so weigh this section with that in mind.

Bearly gives you Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app, with web search with sources. With ZDR mode on, every chat model you can pick runs with zero data retention. That means the provider running the model doesn't keep your prompt or the answer once it has finished processing them. Our AI proxy doesn't store your prompts or the answers either. Bearly doesn't train AI models on your chats, has no ads, and doesn't sell your data.

To turn it on:

  1. In Bearly, open your account menu at the bottom of the sidebar and choose App Settings.
  2. Select Privacy & Security.
  3. Turn on Zero Data Retention only.
  4. Start a chat, choose a model from the model picker, and ask your question.

With the setting on, the picker shows only zero-retention models, and automatic fallbacks stay on them too. Each model carries a ZDR badge. The setting belongs to your account, so it follows you to your other devices. (Bearly docs: zero data retention)

What it covers: the models that write chat replies. Web search, image generation, voice, and memory run separately. Web search sends the provider your query, never your name, account, or IP address. Image search runs on a provider that keeps nothing after it answers. Your chats are still saved in your Bearly history so you can come back to them. In the same pane, select Set up end-to-end encryption, and new chats are encrypted on your devices; we store and sync only the locked copies.

Questions people ask

Is Perplexity private and secure?

Partly. Perplexity keeps your sessions until you delete them, and on Free, Pro, and Max plans it can use your data to train AI models until you turn off AI data retention in Preferences. Sessions are private unless you share them, and Incognito sessions stay out of memory and expire within 24 hours.

How safe is it to use Perplexity AI?

Perplexity says your sessions stay private unless you share them and your uploaded files are used only to answer your questions. Its privacy notice also lets it share browsing and search activity with advertising partners for targeted ads. Turn off AI data retention, opt out of ad tracking, and use Incognito for anything sensitive.

Does Perplexity train on my data?

It can. On Free, Pro, and Max plans, AI data retention is on by default, and Perplexity may use your data, including what's in memory, to train AI models. Turn it off in your account settings under Preferences; it covers only data collected after you do. Perplexity says Enterprise data is never used for training.

Does Perplexity have an incognito mode?

Yes. Incognito sessions don't use your memory or past searches, aren't saved to memory, and expire within 24 hours with no way to recover them. The Comet browser has its own Incognito window, which doesn't keep your browsing history, cookies, or form fills.

Can Perplexity control your browser?

In Comet, yes, if you let it. Comet's assistant can click, navigate, and fill in forms, and it asks before an agent's first run whether to allow it once, always, or not at all. You can turn the assistant off or block it on specific sites under Settings, Privacy and security, Comet Assistant.

How do I delete my Perplexity history?

Open your History at perplexity.ai/library, select the three dots beside a session, and delete it, or use the three dots at the top right to delete all sessions. Deleted sessions can't be recovered, and files are deleted with the session they were uploaded to.

Related

Sources

All checked November 11, 2026.

Try ZDR mode on your next question.

Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and more in one app. Turn on Zero Data Retention only in Settings, then pick a model.

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