OpenAI has introduced a new ChatGPT feature that lets users lock individual conversations behind a four-digit PIN or supported device authentication. The feature helps users keep sensitive discussions out of their regular chat history and search results.

According to OpenAI’s Help Centre, users can unlock protected conversations with their account PIN. Supported mobile devices also offer Face ID, Touch ID or device authentication.

The feature is useful for people who share devices or screens with family members, friends or colleagues. It lets them save private conversations without displaying them alongside their usual chats.

How ChatGPT’s Locked Chats Work

Users can lock an eligible conversation through its three-dot menu by selecting Lock chat. ChatGPT then moves the conversation to a dedicated section under Projects > Locked chats.

The chat’s title and contents no longer appear in regular conversation history or standard search results. Users must authenticate before opening their protected conversations.

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OpenAI also protects files uploaded or created within a locked chat. Users can access those files only through the corresponding locked conversation while the lock remains active.

The feature is rolling out gradually across ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. It is not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare. Availability may vary by account and platform.

Some conversations cannot be locked. These include Temporary Chats, archived chats, group conversations, chats created from shared links, conversations with scheduled tasks and chats containing meeting recordings.

Locked Chats Do Not Offer End-to-End Encryption

OpenAI stresses that locking a conversation does not create end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault. Instead, the feature adds an access barrier within the ChatGPT interface.

Locking a chat does not change OpenAI’s data-retention periods or the user’s existing model-improvement settings. It also does not remove information ChatGPT remembered before the user locked the conversation.

Users should therefore distinguish between restricting access to a chat on their device and changing how the service handles their data.

How Locked Chats Interact With Memory

Locked Chats also have specific rules for ChatGPT’s Memory feature.

When Memory is enabled, a locked conversation can use relevant information from the user’s regular Memory. However, information remembered exclusively within locked chats does not automatically carry over into regular conversations.

New messages in locked chats can also contribute to a separate memory shared among conversations in that section.

These rules allow users to keep conversations organised separately while preserving some personalisation features. However, locking a chat does not erase previously saved memories.

Forgetting Your PIN Could Delete Locked Chats

OpenAI has issued an important warning for users who forget their account PIN.

Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, information remembered exclusively within those chats, and files or other content protected only by the previous PIN.

Users cannot undo this deletion. OpenAI Support also cannot recover the deleted content.

However, users who still know their current PIN can change it without deleting their locked conversations. This makes it important to remember the existing PIN before attempting a reset.

Locked Chats vs Temporary Chats

Locked Chats and Temporary Chats serve different purposes.

Locked Chats let users save conversations and return to them later while restricting access through authentication. The conversations remain subject to the account’s existing retention and model-improvement settings.

Temporary Chats, by contrast, stay out of regular chat history and do not create or update memories. They also are not used to improve OpenAI’s models while they remain temporary, subject to applicable policies and settings.

Users who want to preserve a conversation but restrict access may prefer Locked Chats. Those who want a temporary conversation with different history and personalisation behaviour may prefer Temporary Chat.

The new feature adds another privacy control to ChatGPT, but users should remember that it does not replace encryption or change the platform’s underlying data-retention policies.