ChatGPT Locked Chats Feature
ChatGPT Locked Chats Feature: OpenAI Now Lets Users Protect Private Chats With a PIN
OpenAI has started rolling out a new ChatGPT Locked Chats feature, giving users an extra layer of privacy for personal or sensitive conversations. The feature lets users protect selected ChatGPT chats with a 4-digit PIN, and supported devices may also offer biometric or device authentication.
What Is the ChatGPT Locked Chats Feature?
The new feature lets users move selected conversations away from their regular ChatGPT history. Once a conversation is locked, it no longer appears alongside regular chats, pinned conversations, or standard conversation search results.
Locked conversations can instead be accessed from the dedicated Locked chats section and require authentication before they can be opened.
This could be particularly useful for people who occasionally share their phone or computer with family members or friends but don’t want certain ChatGPT conversations to be easily accessible.
How to Lock a Chat in ChatGPT
To lock an eligible conversation, users can open the three-dot menu for the chat and select Lock chat. When using the feature for the first time, ChatGPT asks the user to create a 4-digit account PIN.
OpenAI is rolling out Locked Chats gradually, so the option may not immediately appear for every account.
Be Careful When Resetting Your PIN
There is one important detail users should know. According to OpenAI, resetting a forgotten account PIN permanently deletes chats protected by the previous PIN, along with protected files and information remembered only within those locked conversations. OpenAI Support cannot recover this deleted content.
Locked Chats should also not be confused with an end-to-end encrypted vault. Locking a conversation does not automatically change OpenAI’s existing chat retention or model-improvement settings.
Who Can Get Locked Chats?
OpenAI says ChatGPT Locked Chats are gradually rolling out across Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, including supported web, mobile, and desktop experiences.
Overall, Locked Chats gives ChatGPT users a practical way to keep selected conversations out of their regular chat history without deleting them.
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