ChatGPT now lets you lock private chats behind a PIN

OpenAI has added a feature to ChatGPT called Locked Chats. It lets you move selected conversations into a private folder that opens only with a 4-digit PIN. The aim is simple: if someone borrows your phone, they will not stumble on your sensitive chats.

What changed

Locked conversations are kept apart from your regular chat history. They do not show up in your chat list or in your pinned chats. They sit in a separate folder named Locked Chats. To open it, you enter your PIN. On iPhones and Android phones, you can use Face ID, a fingerprint or other available biometric options instead.

The feature is rolling out in phases. It is gradually becoming available in all countries, so you may not see it yet.

Where it works

• It works alongside Voice Mode on iPhones and Android phones.
• Codex conversations cannot be locked with this feature.
• Locked chats may still have certain limitations. The source does not say what they are.

What it does not do

Locked Chats is not end-to-end encryption. That is a stronger kind of protection where only you and the other end can read a message. This feature is mainly built to protect your privacy if someone else physically holds or uses your phone.

Locking a chat also does not change OpenAI's data retention policies or its model training settings. Locking alone does not decide how long OpenAI keeps your data or whether it is used to train AI models.

The PIN warning

Do not treat the PIN lightly. If you reset your Locked Chats PIN for any reason, all your locked conversations and the files uploaded to that section may be permanently deleted. This cannot be undone. OpenAI support will not be able to recover that content.

What to do

If you share a phone or often hand yours to others, this feature is worth a look once it reaches your account. Pick a PIN you will remember, since a reset can wipe what you saved. If your worry is what OpenAI keeps or uses, your existing data and training settings are the place to look, because this feature leaves them as they are.