OpenAI has started rolling out Locked Chats in ChatGPT, giving users a way to hide selected conversations from their regular history, pinned chats and
search without deleting them. The feature began rolling out on October 20 across Free, Go, Plus and Pro accounts, with separate availability for Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces.
Locked chats open with a four-digit account PIN or supported device authentication. On compatible phones, that can include Face ID, Touch ID or the device unlock method. OpenAI says the feature is arriving gradually on the web, iOS, Android and the new ChatGPT desktop apps for macOS and Windows.
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How to lock and open a chat
To lock a conversation, open the chat’s more-options menu, shown as three dots, and select “Lock chat.” The conversation moves out of the normal chat list and search results. To find it again, open Projects and choose Locked chats, then enter the account PIN or use supported device authentication.
Users should treat the PIN carefully. OpenAI’s help material warns that resetting it can permanently delete content protected by the old PIN. Support cannot recover that material. Availability may also depend on the account plan, app version and workspace policies, so the option may not appear for everyone immediately.
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What Locked Chats does not change
Locked Chats is mainly protection against someone casually viewing conversations on a shared or unlocked device. It is not the same as end-to-end encryption. OpenAI says existing retention and model-improvement settings remain unchanged. Enterprise and Edu compliance requirements still apply, and locked conversations remain available in compliance logs where configured.
Memory behaviour is also limited. A locked chat can use relevant information from regular Memory when Memory is enabled, but new messages sent while it is locked do not update the memory used in regular chats. Users handling highly sensitive material should still review their data controls, workplace rules and device security instead of relying on the lock alone.
