ChatGPT's new locked chats are gone for good if you reset your PIN
ChatGPT can now hide individual conversations behind a 4-digit PIN. The catch is the reset: if you forget the PIN and reset it, every locked chat is deleted, and OpenAI says its support staff cannot bring them back.
Locked chats are rolling out on the web as well as in the apps. Image: OpenAI
The feature is called locked chats, and it is rolling out gradually. A locked chat disappears from your history, your pinned chats and the normal search, so it stays out of view when you share your screen or hand someone your device.
Locked chats are coming to every ChatGPT plan except ChatGPT for Healthcare
OpenAI lists Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu. The feature works on the web, in the iOS and Android apps, and in the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS and Windows.
To lock a chat, open its ••• menu and choose Lock chat. ChatGPT asks you to create a PIN the first time. Locked chats then live under Projects, in a Locked chats area. On supported phones, Face ID, Touch ID or the device unlock can open them instead.
Some chats cannot be locked. That includes Codex conversations, local Work conversations and any chat started from a shared link. Locking a chat that sits in a project moves it out of the project, and it loses that project's instructions, files and memory.
On supported phones, Face ID, Touch ID or the device unlock can open locked chats instead of the PIN. Image: OpenAI
A locked chat is hidden from view but is not encrypted
OpenAI is clear about the limits. Locking does not add end-to-end encryption or create a separate encrypted vault. It does not change how long OpenAI keeps the chat, or your setting for improving the model. Anything ChatGPT remembered before you locked a chat stays remembered.
Workspace policies and legal obligations still apply. A workspace admin also cannot reset your PIN or unlock your chats for you.
On a computer, locked chats need the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS or Windows. Image: OpenAI
Changing your PIN is safe, but resetting a forgotten one wipes everything
The difference between the two is easy to miss. Changing the PIN in Settings, under Security and login, keeps your locked chats, but you need the current PIN to do it. Forgetting the PIN deletes nothing by itself either.
Resetting it does. A reset permanently deletes all locked chats, memories stored only inside them, and files protected only by the old PIN. Too many wrong guesses also lock you out for a while before you can try again.
Files from a locked chat that were saved to Space are hidden there too. Space is the file area that replaced ChatGPT's Library on Pro, Business and Enterprise. Those files come back only when you permanently unlock the chat. Anyone who locks a chat should keep the PIN written down somewhere other than ChatGPT.
