ChatGPT now lets you lock private chats behind a PIN

OpenAI has added a feature to ChatGPT called Blocked Chats. It lets you put selected conversations behind a four-digit PIN. The idea is simple: if you share a computer or a screen, some chats can stay out of sight of other people.

What changed

Blocked Chats works as its own section inside ChatGPT. Conversations stored there are hidden from your general chat history, from pinned chats and from the usual conversation search. Someone glancing at your screen or using the same device will not see them in the normal places.

To open the section, you enter your PIN. If you use the ChatGPT app on Android or iPhone, you can use your face or fingerprint instead.

What it does not do

OpenAI says on its support page that these chats are private from other people who use the same device. That is different from being locked away completely. They are not end-to-end encrypted, which means they are not scrambled so that only you can read them. They are also not fully inaccessible at a technical level.

• It does not change the "Improve the model for everyone" training setting.
• It does not erase anything ChatGPT memorized before a chat was blocked.
• It does not change OpenAI's usage policies, security requirements or legal obligations.

The PIN warning

Forgetting the PIN is costly. If you reset it, every conversation in Blocked Chats is permanently deleted. So is information that exists only in those chats, along with files and other content protected by the old PIN. OpenAI says the action is irreversible and its support team cannot recover the content.

How to turn it on

• Open the Projects menu in ChatGPT.
• Go to the Blocked chats tab.
• Select or create the conversations you want to include.
• Set your four-digit PIN.

Who gets it

The feature is rolling out gradually. It covers the free version of ChatGPT and the Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. If you do not see it yet, it may simply not have reached your account.

For households with a shared laptop or workers who present on a shared screen, this is a handy privacy layer. It is still best treated as a curtain, not a vault. Anything truly sensitive is safer kept out of any chat.