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ChatGPT’s locked chats feature saves a conversation in your account while removing it from ordinary history, pinned chats and regular conversation search. You open it through Projects > Locked chats and authenticate with a four-digit account PIN; supported phones can also use Face ID, Touch ID or the device-unlock method. It is designed to limit casual visibility, not to create an encrypted vault or change OpenAI’s retention, memory or model-improvement rules.
What does ChatGPT chat lock do?
Locking moves a saved conversation into a protected Locked chats area. The conversation remains in your account, but it is hidden from the normal chat list, pinned chats and regular conversation search. Access requires the account PIN or an authentication method supported by your device.
The PIN is four digits and belongs to your OpenAI account rather than to a particular workspace. ChatGPT asks you to create it the first time you lock a conversation or open Locked chats. On compatible mobile devices, biometric authentication or the device unlock method can be used in addition to the PIN.
Locking is an access-and-visibility feature. It does not provide end-to-end encryption, create a separately encrypted storage vault, shorten or extend ChatGPT’s retention period, alter the Improve the model for everyone setting, or override workspace, safety, legal or compliance requirements.
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Who can use locked chats?
OpenAI lists locked chats for the following plans, although the feature is being rolled out gradually and may not appear on every eligible account immediately:
| Plan or environment | Availability and qualification |
|---|---|
| Free, Go, Plus and Pro | Listed as eligible, subject to the gradual rollout and supported app or platform. |
| Business, Enterprise and Edu | Listed as eligible, but organizational policies and compliance access still apply. |
| ChatGPT for Healthcare | Locked chats are unavailable. |
| macOS and Windows desktop | Requires the new ChatGPT desktop app. Voice is not available in locked chats on desktop. |
| Web | Locked chats can use voice for supported accounts. Temporary access ends when the authenticated tab or window is refreshed or closed. |
| iOS and Android | Voice works for supported accounts. Protected access ends automatically after one minute away or when the app is put in the background. |
Codex conversations, including cloud Codex conversations, and local Work conversations cannot be locked. Project eligibility can also vary by platform.
How to lock an existing conversation
- Open the conversation you want to protect.
- Open its ••• menu.
- Select Lock chat.
- Create your four-digit account PIN when prompted, or enter the existing PIN.
- Confirm the lock.
The chat then moves into Locked chats. Removal from search and updates on other already-open devices may take a short time, so do not assume that every screen changes simultaneously.
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How to start a new locked chat
- Open Projects.
- Select Locked chats and authenticate.
- Send your message in the locked area.
The new conversation is saved in Locked chats rather than in regular history. If Projects or Locked chats is not shown, your account may not yet have the rollout, or the platform may not support the feature.
Opening, temporarily relocking and permanently unlocking
Open a locked chat
Select Projects > Locked chats, authenticate with the PIN or an available device method, and choose the conversation. You can then read, continue or use supported features such as voice.
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End the current access session
Choose Lock now when you want to hide the conversation again without permanently changing its status. On the web and desktop, the authenticated access applies to that tab or window and ends after a refresh or when the tab or window is closed. On iOS and Android, access ends automatically after one minute away or as soon as the app is backgrounded.
Unlock permanently
- Open the locked conversation.
- Open ••• and choose Unlock chat (or Unlock on iOS).
- Confirm the change.
Permanent unlocking returns the conversation to regular history. If it originally came from a project, it returns to regular history rather than to that previous project. Files protected with the conversation that were saved to Space become visible again.
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Change a known PIN without deleting chats
When you know the current PIN, go to Settings > Security and login > Account PIN and choose the option to change it. Changing the PIN preserves your locked chats and their protected content.
Reset a forgotten PIN
A reset is not a recovery process. Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes every locked chat, memories stored only inside locked chats, and files or other content protected only by the old PIN. The deletion cannot be undone, and OpenAI Support cannot recover the deleted material.
Because of that consequence, do not use Reset PIN merely to test whether you remember the number. If you still know the current PIN, use Change PIN instead.
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Are locked chats encrypted?
No. Locking hides conversations behind account authentication, but it is not end-to-end encryption and is not a separate encrypted vault. OpenAI’s normal retention practices continue to apply. The feature also leaves your account’s model-improvement choice unchanged: if your account is configured to allow conversations to improve OpenAI models, locking a chat does not change that setting.
Ads, where available for your account, may also appear in locked chats because locking does not alter ad settings.
How locked chats handle files
Files created or uploaded inside the locked chat
Files uploaded or created in a locked conversation are protected with it and are hidden from Space and Space search while the conversation remains locked. Unlocking the conversation makes files saved to Space visible again.
Files imported from elsewhere in Space
A file brought into the conversation from another location in Space keeps its existing access rules. Locking the chat does not turn that separate Space file into a locked file. If the file must be protected, review and change its Space access separately.
How memory behaves in a locked chat
- When Memory is enabled, a locked chat can use relevant information already present in regular Memory.
- New information from one locked chat can be remembered for use in other locked chats.
- Information remembered only within locked chats does not automatically carry into regular chats.
- Locking does not erase memories that were created before the conversation was locked.
- After permanent unlocking, the full conversation may be considered for regular Memory when account settings and workspace policies allow it; memories created while the chat was locked are not automatically added to regular Memory.
These rules mean that locking a conversation is not the same as starting with a blank memory context. Check your Memory controls separately if you need to prevent existing personalization from being used.
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Shared links and organizational access
Existing shared links
Locking a chat that already has a shared link does not delete that link. Content shared before the lock remains available through the link, while messages sent after locking are not added to the shared view. To stop access, delete the shared link separately.
A conversation created from a shared link cannot be locked.
Workspace administrators
Workspace administrators cannot unlock an individual locked chat, reset a user’s PIN or disable locked chats through workspace settings or role-based access controls. That does not make the chats invisible to organizational compliance systems. In Enterprise and Edu, locked chats remain in conversation message logs available through the OpenAI Compliance Platform, subject to the organization’s policies and authorized access.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the Lock chat option may be missing
The feature is rolling out gradually, so an account can be on an eligible plan and still lack the control. The option is also intentionally unavailable for several conversation types:
- Temporary chats
- Archived chats
- Group chats
- Chats in the earlier Health experience
- Chats created from shared links
- Chats with scheduled tasks, meeting recordings or background tasks
- Chats with responses saved as project sources
- Codex conversations, including cloud Codex conversations
- Local Work conversations
ChatGPT for Healthcare does not offer locked chats. On desktop, verify that you are using the new ChatGPT macOS or Windows app rather than an older desktop build. Project support can differ between web, desktop and mobile.
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Common problems and what to do
The conversation still appears in search on another device
After locking, search removal and refresh of other open devices can take time. Close or refresh the other session, then check again. Do not create another copy of the conversation while waiting, because it will not inherit the lock.
An Android screenshot is black or blank
The Android app may hide protected locked-chat content in screenshots. A blank or black capture can therefore be expected behavior rather than evidence that the conversation was deleted. View the chat inside the authenticated app instead.
You cannot lock a temporary chat
A temporary chat cannot be locked while it remains temporary. Saving it converts it to a regular chat, after which the account’s normal personalization and model-improvement behavior applies and the chat can be evaluated for locking if it meets the other eligibility rules.
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Locking does not revoke a link that was already shared. Delete the shared link separately, then review any copies or exports that recipients may already have made.
Locked chats versus Temporary Chat
Choose between the features based on whether you want persistence or minimal history and model use:
| Decision point | Locked chat | Temporary Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Persistence | Saved in the account’s Locked chats until unlocked or deleted through a PIN reset. | Temporary by design; it is not intended to become a persistent locked conversation. |
| Ordinary history visibility | Hidden from normal history, pinned chats and regular search behind authentication. | Kept out of normal history while it remains temporary. |
| Model-improvement setting | Follows the account’s existing setting. | Used when the goal is to keep the conversation out of history and not use it to improve OpenAI models while it remains temporary. |
| Memory | Can use regular Memory; new locked-only information can be used by other locked chats under the rules above. | Does not create or update memories. |
| Authentication | Four-digit account PIN, with supported device authentication on mobile. | No separate locked-chat PIN. |
| Forgotten credential recovery | Resetting the PIN permanently deletes all locked chats and content protected only by that PIN. | No locked-chat PIN reset applies. |
Use Temporary Chat for a conversation you do not want retained in history or used to improve models while temporary, and use locked chats when you need to keep a conversation saved but out of ordinary view.
Quick Recap
A practical privacy checklist
- Confirm that the conversation type is eligible before looking for Lock chat.
- Create a PIN you can reliably remember; a forgotten PIN cannot be recovered without deleting locked content.
- Delete any existing shared link separately if it should no longer work.
- Review Space permissions for files imported from elsewhere, because the lock does not change those files’ independent access rules.
- Check Memory and model-improvement settings separately; locking does not change either one.
- If the account belongs to an Enterprise or Edu workspace, assume authorized compliance logging still applies.
- Use Lock now or close the authenticated tab/app when you finish viewing sensitive content.
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