ChatGPT's new locked chats are gone for good if you reset your PIN
ChatGPT can now hide individual conversations behind a four-digit PIN. But there is a catch. If you forget your PIN and reset it, all your locked chats are permanently deleted. OpenAI says its support team cannot bring them back.
Locked chats are gradually becoming available on the web and in the apps. Image: OpenAI
The feature is called locked chats, and it is being released a little at a time. When you lock a chat, it disappears from your chat history, pinned chats and normal search results. This helps keep it hidden when you share your screen or let someone use your device.
Locked chats are coming to every ChatGPT plan except ChatGPT for Healthcare
OpenAI lists Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. You can use the feature 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. The first time, ChatGPT will ask you to create a PIN. Your locked chats will then appear in a Locked chats section under Projects. On supported phones, you can also open them using Face ID, Touch ID or your device's normal unlock method.
Some chats cannot be locked. These include Codex conversations, local Work conversations and chats started from shared links. If you lock a chat that is part of a project, it moves out of that project and loses access to the project's instructions, files and memory.
On supported phones, you can use Face ID, Touch ID or your device's unlock method instead of a PIN to open locked chats. Image: OpenAI
A locked chat is hidden from view but is not encrypted
OpenAI explains the limits of this feature. Locking a chat does not add end-to-end encryption or store the conversation in a separate, encrypted space. It does not change how long OpenAI keeps the chat or your setting for allowing chats to help improve its models. ChatGPT also continues to remember anything it remembered from the conversation before you locked it.
Workspace rules and legal requirements still apply. Workspace administrators cannot reset your PIN or unlock your chats for you.
On a computer, you need the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS or Windows to use locked chats. Image: OpenAI
Changing your PIN is safe, but resetting a forgotten one deletes everything
It is easy to confuse changing your PIN with resetting it. If you change your PIN in Settings, under Security and login, your locked chats stay safe. But you must know your current PIN to change it. Simply forgetting your PIN does not delete anything.
Resetting your PIN permanently deletes all your locked chats. It also deletes memories stored only inside those chats and files protected only by the old PIN. If you enter the wrong PIN too many times, you will be locked out for a while before you can try again.
Files from locked chats that were saved to Space are hidden there too. Space is the file area that replaced ChatGPT's Library for Pro, Business and Enterprise users. These files become available again only when you permanently unlock the chat. If you lock a chat, write down your PIN and keep it somewhere outside ChatGPT.