The multifunctionalities of La 3 Ga 5 GeO 14 :Cr 3+ ,Yb 3+ ,Er 3+ (LGG:Cr 3+ ,Yb 3+ ,Er 3+ ) with respective functions of near-infrared (NIR) upconversion (UC) luminescence, optical temperature sensing (OTS) and long persistent luminescence (LPL) were carried out and investigated in detail, which makes the materials attractive for bioapplications.The NIR UC luminescence at ~830 nm with deep penetration in tissues is ascribed to the 4 T 2 → 4 A 2 transition of Cr 3+ . OTS function based on the intensity ratio variation of 2 H 11/2 → 4 I 15/2 to 4 S 3/2 → 4 I 15/2 transitions of Er 3+ ion detected that the thermal effects of the UC material caused by the laser irradiation ranges from 307 to 332 K for pumping power of 60 to 86 mW mm -2 . It also showed LPL of Cr 3+ with defects trap depth of ~0.77 eV below the conduction band, benefiting excitation-free and noise-free imaging in tissues. Additionally, anomalous temperature dependant UC emission behaviours of Cr 3+ and Er 3+ in this material were also characterized and discussed, which can be understood by the configurational coordinate (CC) model and the complex foreward and backward energy transfer processes among the dopants, respectively. The potential coupling of these functions was further discussed, such as UC induced NIR LPL, which would repetitively restrengthen the fading LPL signals and alerting the operators to thermal damage of the biosystems by NIR laser in the tissue imaging.LGG has a space group of P321, its 2d site is disorderly occupied by 50% of Ga (2) and 50% of Ge. Layers formed by (Ga/Ge)O 4 tetrahedrons and GaO 4 tetrahedrons sharing the corner are connected by GaO 6 octahedra along c axis, with La 3+ ions in the forming cages of the framework (as seen in Fig. 3). Some typical cation-cation distances are also listed in Table 1. It should be noted that the distance between La-Ga is shorter than that of La-La.