Contents
Right after you send a message in Gemini, you may get this instead of a reply, and everything stops.
Something went wrong(13)
Something went wrong, please try again (13)
The first line is how Google's own incident report writes it; the second is a wording users quote in Google's community. The short version: Google has not officially explained what causes this error. However, there is one record in which Google itself named this message in an incident report. Using that as a lead, you can work out what to check, and in what order, before concluding that you are doing something wrong.
Based on Google's official records and reports posted to Google's official community, this article separates what is confirmed from what is inferred and lays out the order in which to try things when error (13) appears.
In May 2026, an outage that produced this message lasted about four days. Google's official workaround at the time was "none"
Is it one chat only, only when you attach an image, or only on that account? What to do depends on the scope
The people replying in the official community are volunteers, not Google employees. Feedback is what actually reaches Google
1. What Google has officially written
An incident report records "Something went wrong(13)"
Gemini incidents are posted on Google's service status page, the Google Workspace Status Dashboard. One of them, the May 2026 incident report, states the following.
| Item | What the official report says |
|---|---|
| Duration | May 4, 2026, 16:40 to May 8, 18:53 (UTC) |
| Symptom | Users saw a "Something went wrong(13)" error message in their Gemini conversations |
| Root cause | "A combination of insufficient database resources, and application bugs" |
| Workaround | "None at this time" |
In other words, it is officially confirmed that this error can be caused by a problem on Google's side that users have no way to prevent. If anyone tried everything during that period and nothing worked, it was not because of how they were using Gemini.
The official help pages don't explain error (13) itself
On the other hand, as of September 2026, no page explaining the cause of error (13) or how to fix it could be found in the Gemini Apps Help Center or the official release notes. The incident report above is also a record of "what happened during that period", not a general definition of error (13). The causes of error (13) reported outside of May are not officially known.
2. What the number "13" means (inference)
Many Google services use a system called gRPC for internal communication, and it expresses the type of error as a number. The main codes are defined as follows in the official gRPC documentation.
| Code | Name | Official definition (summary) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | INVALID_ARGUMENT | What was sent is itself invalid |
| 8 | RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED | A resource, such as a usage quota, has been exhausted |
| 13 | INTERNAL | Internal error. Something the system relies on has broken; reserved for serious errors |
| 14 | UNAVAILABLE | Temporarily unavailable. Often fixed by retrying after waiting a while |
🟡 Google has not stated that the "(13)" in the Gemini app means the same thing as INTERNAL. Still, the numbers match, and the cause of the May outage (insufficient database resources plus application bugs) is consistent with the definition of an "internal error". So the natural reading is that it is a code for a problem that occurred partway through Google's own processing, not a problem with how you wrote your message. It also helps with narrowing things down to remember that it is a different code from running out of quota (8).
3. Four situations that come up most in reports
Google's official community has many posts about error (13). They don't explain the cause, but there are patterns in the situations in which it appeared.
It appears in every chat and on every device, and reports from other people are rising at the same time. Most likely an outage on Google's side (the official May 2026 record)
After keeping a running log in a single chat, that chat alone stopped sending. Other chats work normally (example report)
Text alone sends fine, but a request with an image attached errors out every time (example report)
It appears on a computer and on a phone, whichever model is selected, and in an incognito window too, but switching to a different free account works (example report)
🟡 These are individual reports, and none of their causes has been officially confirmed. But because what works differs by situation (a new chat fixes it, removing the image gets it through, switching accounts gets it through), narrowing things down in the order below saves wasted effort.
4. What to try, in order: 7 isolation steps
This is not Google's official troubleshooting procedure. It is an order for narrowing down the problem, built from the official record and the patterns in reports. Work from the top, starting with the least effort.
| Step | What to do | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard for a Gemini incident | If there is an outage, all you can do is wait |
| 2 | Reload the page, wait a few minutes and send it again | If the error was temporary, this can get it through |
| 3 | Start a new chat and send the same request | If it goes through, the problem is specific to the original chat (Situation 2) |
| 4 | Remove images and files and send text only | If it goes through, the problem is related to the attachment (Situation 3) |
| 5 | Try an incognito window, a different browser, or the app | If it goes through, the problem is on your device, such as extensions or cache |
| 6 | Try a different Google account | If it goes through, the problem is specific to that account (Situation 4) |
| 7 | Report it via "Settings & help" → "Send feedback" | Gets a problem you can't fix yourself to Google (§7) |
If step 3 worked, you'll get back to work faster by handing off to a new chat using the method in §5 than by persisting with the original one. If step 6 showed that "a different account works", the problem is on the account side, not your device, so changing device settings won't fix it.
5. Handing off when only a long chat won't send
There is a limit to how much the Gemini app can handle in one conversation (its context window). According to the official Gemini Apps help, it is 32k tokens without an AI plan, 128k tokens on AI Plus, and 1 million tokens on AI Pro and AI Ultra.
🟡 However, that help page says nothing about any link between the limit and error (13). "It shows up more in long chats" is only based on community reports and the experience of people answering there. Even so, if only that chat won't send, as in Situation 2, moving to a new chat is the practical move.
Before you move, if the chat still works (or, if it was working until just now, whenever it works again), ask it to write out the key points with something like this.
Summarize our conversation so far so I can pick it up where we left off in a new chat. List the goal, what we've decided, what's still undecided, and the next steps as bullet points.
Paste that summary at the start of a new chat and you can carry on without dragging the long history along. If the original chat won't send anything at all because of the error, copy the parts you need from the earlier exchanges still on screen and paste them into the new chat yourself. For more on how much an AI can handle at once, see our explainer on context windows.
6. What not to do
- Deleting your entire chat history right away. Some community posts say "deleting my history fixed it", but there is no evidence that it works, and deleted history can't be restored. First narrow things down with step 3 in §4 (a new chat), keeping your history intact
- Sending the same message dozens of times in quick succession. During an outage or an internal error, hammering the send button changes nothing. Wait a few minutes before trying again
- Sending feedback that still contains things you don't want seen. As explained below, the content of the conversation is sent along with your feedback
- Posting only in the official community and waiting for Google to respond. The people replying are volunteers, and it is not a channel that gets your post to Google staff
7. Where to report it if nothing works
Once the steps in §4 show that "it's not an outage and it's not my device", report it through feedback, which goes directly to Google. According to the official help, on a computer you can send it from "Settings & help" → "Send feedback" at the bottom of the screen.
- Describe since when, on which screen and while doing what error (13) appears. It is easier to understand if you add which steps in §4 got through and which didn't
- The same help page notes that when you send feedback, "the associated conversation, like your prompts and the Gemini app's responses, is added as part of your feedback", along with files and images you uploaded. Avoid sending it from a chat that contains personal information or confidential work material
- If you use Gemini with a work or school Google account, tell your organization's administrator as well
Summary
| Situation | How to tell | What tends to work |
|---|---|---|
| Hits everyone at once | Appears in every chat and on every device | Check the status page and wait |
| Only a long chat | A new chat sends fine | Summarize the key points and move to a new chat |
| Only with an image attached | Text alone sends fine | Remove the attachment or phrase the request another way |
| Only one particular account | A different account sends fine | Report it through feedback |
- There is no official help page explaining the cause of error (13). But the May 2026 incident report records "Something went wrong(13)", so it is officially confirmed that it can be caused by a problem on Google's side
- The number "13" matches gRPC's INTERNAL (internal error). Google has not stated that they mean the same thing, but it reads as something other than a problem with how you wrote your message
- Narrow it down in this order: status page → reload → new chat → remove attachments → different browser → different account → feedback
- Deleting all your history can't be undone, so don't make it your first move
FAQ
Q1. Is this different from "Something went wrong" without a number?
It can be. The official Gemini Apps help on who can use the app says: "If you get a 'Something went wrong' message while trying to access or sign in to the Gemini web app, your account can't access the app at the moment", and the reasons can include your location, age, or type of account. If it appears at the sign-in stage, that's the case; if it appears with a number partway through a conversation, it's what this article covers.
Q2. It also appears when I try to save custom instructions.
Someone has also asked on a Q&A site why error (13) appears every time they try to enter custom instructions for Gemini (a June 2026 question in Japanese). The cause isn't officially known, so as in §4, check in this order: wait a while, shorten the instructions and save, then try a different browser. Where custom instructions live and when they apply are covered in our article on custom instructions in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
Q3. I'm on a paid plan and still get it.
It happens on paid plans too. The report behind Situation 4 in §3 says that it appeared only on the AI Pro account, while a free account worked. Upgrading your plan won't necessarily fix it, so use step 6 in §4 to check whether the problem is on the account side, and report it through feedback.
Q4. I get 500 or INTERNAL errors when developing with the Gemini API.
This is a separate matter from error (13) in the app, but the official Gemini API troubleshooting guide advises: "Only retry on transient errors (like 429, 408, or 5xx). Do not retry on client errors (like 400 or 403)". For 500-range errors, the basic approach is to retry while leaving time between attempts.
