OpenAI’s Locked Chats lets you hide individual ChatGPT conversations behind a four-digit PIN, or Face ID, Touch ID or device unlock on supported phones. A locked chat disappears from your regular history, pinned chats and search, and lives under Projects and then Locked chats until you unlock it. It is a screen-privacy feature, not encryption, and one catch matters more than all the rest: if you forget your PIN and reset it, every locked chat is permanently deleted.
Read this before you lock a chat and immediately share your screen. Locking does not instantly hide the chat everywhere. On other devices where ChatGPT is already open, the chat title can stay visible until their conversation lists refresh, and on iOS, previously loaded chat content can stay visible until the app refreshes. On the web, the chat can even stay open in the current tab after you lock it. OpenAI tells users to check other open devices before sharing a screen or device, because locking first and sharing second can leave the very thing you wanted to hide still on display.
How to lock a chat in ChatGPT
Locking takes seconds, and the first lock sets up your account PIN.
- Open the conversation you want to hide.
- Open its three-dot menu and select Lock chat.
- Confirm Lock chat, then create and confirm a four-digit PIN.
- Find the chat later under Projects and then Locked chats.
On iPhones and iPads that support biometrics, enable Face ID or Touch ID under Settings, then Security and login. Android users can select device unlock instead. The PIN works across devices signed in to the same OpenAI account, while biometric and device authentication must be set up separately on each device. On mobile, access ends automatically after one minute away from the locked-chat area or after the app has been in the background for a minute, and a Lock now option ends access immediately. On the web, refreshing or closing the tab ends access.
How to open a locked chat again
Go to Projects, select Locked chats, and enter your PIN or use your device authentication. Opening a locked chat does not put it back in regular history or search: it stays in the Locked chats area until you deliberately unlock it. To return a chat to regular history permanently, open it, open its three-dot menu, and select Unlock chat (just Unlock on iOS).
What Locked Chats does not protect
This is the section to read before trusting the lock with anything serious. OpenAI’s own help page lists the limits plainly. Locking a chat does not create end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault. It does not change how long OpenAI retains the chat. It does not change your “Improve the model for everyone” setting, so a locked chat can still be used for model training if that setting is on. It does not remove information ChatGPT remembered before you locked the chat, though new messages inside locked chats use a separate locked memory that does not leak into regular chats.
Two gaps surprise people most. First, ads: if ads are available for your account, they may also appear inside locked chats, and locking a chat does not change your ad settings. A lock hides the conversation from people near you, not from OpenAI’s own monetization. Second, copying: anyone who can open a locked chat can still copy its contents, so the lock stops casual viewing, not deliberate extraction.
For work accounts, the limits are stronger still. Locked chats in Enterprise and Edu workspaces are still included in conversation message logs available through the OpenAI Compliance Platform, so locking a chat on an office account does not hide it from your employer’s compliance view. Workspace administrators cannot disable locked chats through a workspace setting or role-based access control permission, but they also cannot unlock your chats or reset your PIN. The lock protects you from colleagues glancing at your screen, not from the organization that owns the workspace.
One more gap catches people out: locking a chat does not revoke a shared link created before it was locked. If you shared the conversation earlier, delete that link separately. But the exposure is narrower than it first sounds: content shared before locking stays available through the link, while new messages sent after locking are not added to it. The old part is exposed, the new part is not.
What happens if you forget your PIN
Read this twice before locking anything important. Resetting your account PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, along with memories stored only within locked chats and files protected only by your previous PIN. This cannot be undone, and OpenAI Support cannot recover the deleted content. Workspace administrators cannot reset the PIN for you either.
Changing a PIN is different and safe: if you still know the current PIN, you can change it in settings and keep your locked chats, though you will need to type the current PIN even if you normally use Face ID. Forgetting alone deletes nothing. Only the reset destroys the chats, which is why the PIN deserves the same care as a password.
Which chats cannot be locked
Not every conversation is eligible. Temporary chats, archived chats, group chats, chats from the earlier Health experience, chats created from a shared link, chats with scheduled tasks, chats with meeting recordings, chats associated with background tasks, and chats whose responses are saved as project sources cannot be locked. On desktop, Codex conversations, including cloud Codex conversations, and local Work conversations cannot be locked either. Locked chats are also not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare. The other way around also holds: otherwise eligible chats that use the Health app can still be locked, so the Health name alone does not disqualify a chat. While a chat is locked, you cannot archive, pin, move or share it until you unlock it first. The feature is rolling out gradually across Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans on the web, iOS, Android and the macOS and Windows desktop apps, so if you do not see Lock chat in a menu yet, your account may not have it.
Locked chats vs temporary chats
These two features sound similar and solve different problems. A temporary chat stays out of history and is not used to improve OpenAI’s models while it remains temporary, and it creates no memories. A locked chat is saved, follows your existing model-improvement setting, and is protected by a PIN. A temporary chat cannot be locked while it remains temporary: saving one converts it into a regular chat that follows your account’s personalization and model-improvement settings, and only then can it be locked. If your goal is no trace at all, use a temporary chat. If your goal is a saved conversation hidden from onlookers, use a locked chat.
Files, memory, voice and search inside locked chats
Locking a chat protects files uploaded or created in it, and those files stay hidden from Space and its search results until you permanently unlock the chat. Files brought in from elsewhere in Space keep their existing access and remain available there, so locking does not retroactively protect everything attached to the conversation. If you lock a chat that belongs to a project, it leaves that project and stops using the project’s instructions, files and memory, and unlocking it later returns it to regular history, not to the project.
Memory runs one way. Locked chats can use relevant information from regular Memory, and new messages sent after locking can be remembered for use in other locked chats, but information remembered only within locked chats does not carry into regular chats. You also cannot search across all locked chats: open the locked chats area and browse them, or on iOS search within a single open chat. Entering the wrong PIN too many times temporarily disables access until the retry period ends. Voice works in locked chats on the web and in the iOS and Android apps, but not in the desktop app.
Frequently asked questions
Is a locked chat encrypted? No. Locking hides the conversation from people who can see your screen or device. It does not encrypt the content against OpenAI, and it does not change retention or training settings.
Can I get locked chats back after a PIN reset? No. A reset permanently deletes them, and OpenAI Support cannot recover them. Only change a PIN while you still know the current one.
Why can I not see Lock chat in the menu? The rollout is gradual. If the option is missing from an eligible chat’s menu, the feature has not reached your account yet.
Does locking remove a shared link? No. Delete any shared link separately, or people with the link can still open the conversation. But only the content shared before locking stays available: new messages sent while the chat is locked are not added to the link.
Why is my screenshot of a locked chat blank? On Android, screenshots of locked chats may appear blank or black because the app hides protected content in screenshots. That is intended behavior, not a bug.
Can I search my locked chats? No, not across all of them. Locked chats do not appear in regular conversation search, and you cannot search across the locked collection either. Open the locked chats area and browse, or on iOS search within a single open chat.
Sources
- OpenAI Help Center, “Using locked chats in ChatGPT” (PIN reset deletion, no encryption, retention and training unchanged, ads in locked chats, Enterprise and Edu compliance logs, admin limits, other-device visibility warning, shared-link nuance, eligibility list, temporary chat comparison, Android screenshot blanking, project-chat behavior, locked-chat search limits, wrong-PIN lockout, file and memory rules, voice availability): https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001411-using-locked-chats-in-chatgpt
- TechCrunch, “ChatGPT now lets you lock your chats”, 20 Oct 2026 (announcement, separate locked memory, ineligible chat types): https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/20/chatgpt-now-lets-you-lock-your-chats/
- TechRepublic, “ChatGPT Locked Chats Explained: How to Use It and What to Know”, Oct 2026 (lock steps, biometrics path, auto-lock timing): https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-chatgpt-locked-chats-pin-biometric-privacy/
- Notebookcheck, “ChatGPT can now lock chats behind a PIN, but they are not encrypted”, Oct 2026 (tiers, platforms, gradual rollout, Android screenshot blanking): https://www.notebookcheck.net/ChatGPT-can-now-lock-chats-behind-a-PIN-but-they-are-not-encrypted.1431008.0.html
