ChatGPT launched Locked Chats on October 20, 2026: users can put sensitive conversations behind a four-digit PIN, and on supported mobile devices unlock them with Face ID or Touch ID instead. OpenAI published the details in its official help center, and the feature began rolling out the same day to Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, excluding ChatGPT for Healthcare.
After locking, a chat moves into its own section
- The chat moves into a dedicated Locked Chats section, separate from regular history, pinned chats and search results
- With Memory on, the locked section keeps its own separate memory: new information shared after locking updates only that memory and does not leak into regular chats
- Temporary chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from a shared link, and chats with scheduled tasks or meeting recordings cannot be locked
- Unlike Temporary Chats, a locked chat does not disappear; enter the PIN and you can pick it up anytime
What this lock does not lock
OpenAI states the limits plainly in its help documentation: locking is not end-to-end encryption and does not create a separate encrypted vault; it does not change how long the chat is retained, does not remove what ChatGPT remembered before the chat was locked, and does not change the Improve the model for everyone setting. What it guards against is a person holding your phone or glancing at your screen, for instance when you hand the device to family to show another chat and do not want a surprise plan or a private consultation flipped open. It contrasts neatly with last week's incident in which Meta Muse share links were indexed by search engines, exposing 6,800 conversations: one was a platform-side public leak, the other is close-range snooping on a device, and the two risks need two different locks.
Forgetting the PIN deletes everything
The sharpest edge is the reset flow: resetting a PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, files and related content protected by the previous PIN, and OpenAI Support cannot recover them. There is no spare key. Before locking anything important, store the PIN somewhere reliable. The rule of thumb is simple: to stop people around you from browsing, Locked Chats fit the job; if your concern is how the platform stores and uses data, this feature cannot help, and the relevant switches live in the privacy settings instead.
