ChatGPT Locked Chats: How to Lock a Chat With a PIN (2026)
ChatGPT Locked Chats: How to Lock a Conversation With a PIN
OpenAI started rolling out Locked Chats on October 20, 2026, and it solves a very ordinary problem: you are using ChatGPT on a bus, in a shared office, or on a laptop someone else can grab, and you do not want a personal conversation sitting in plain sight. Locked chats hide selected conversations behind a four-digit PIN or biometric unlock. Here is exactly how it works, what it does not protect, and the one mistake that can permanently delete your locked conversations.
Quick answer: open the conversation, click the three-dot menu, choose Lock chat, then create a four-digit PIN. The chat disappears from your history, pinned list, and search, and moves to Projects > Locked chats, where a PIN or Face ID / Touch ID is required. It is not end-to-end encryption, and resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes every locked chat and its files.
What a Locked Chat Actually Does
A locked chat is not deleted, and it is not a secret vault. It is a normal conversation with an access layer on top. OpenAI's release notes describe it as a way to keep selected conversations in your account while hiding them from regular chat history, pinned chats, and search.
In practice, three surfaces stop showing the conversation:
- Your chat history sidebar.
- Your pinned chats.
- In-account conversation search.
Everything locked moves into a separate Locked chats project, which you open with a four-digit account PIN or supported device authentication. That separation also applies to memory: locked chats keep their own memory, and updates inside them do not flow back into your regular chats.
How to Lock a Conversation
1) Open the conversation you want to protect.
2) Open the more-options menu (•••).
3) Select Lock chat and confirm.
4) Create a four-digit PIN the first time (enter it twice).
5) The chat moves to Projects > Locked chats.
The same PIN works across every device signed into the same OpenAI account. Biometric unlock is optional and is enabled per device, so a phone can use Face ID while a desktop still asks for the PIN.
How to Unlock a Chat Again
Open the conversation from Projects > Locked chats, then choose Unlock chat from the (•••) menu. The conversation returns to your normal history and becomes searchable again. Nothing is deleted by unlocking.
What Changes and What Does Not
| Setting | Effect of locking |
|---|---|
| Chat history visibility | Hidden |
| Search visibility | Hidden |
| End-to-end encryption | Not added |
| Data retention period | Unchanged |
| Model-improvement setting | Unchanged |
| Memory | Separate from regular chats |
Read that table carefully: locking hides a conversation from people who use your device. It does not change how OpenAI stores or retains the data, and it does not pretend to be a security tool against legal requests.
The Deletion Trap: Reset Your PIN and Everything Goes
If you forget the PIN and reset it, all locked chats are permanently deleted — including files uploaded inside those conversations and memories stored only there. OpenAI states that support cannot recover the content. Changing a PIN you still remember is safe and deletes nothing.
Practical rule: before locking anything you might need later, export or copy what matters. A four-digit PIN has only 10,000 combinations, so treat it as a door lock, not a guarantee.
Where Locked Chats Are Not Available
According to OpenAI, you cannot lock temporary chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from a shared link, chats tied to scheduled tasks, or meeting-recording chats. Codex conversations cannot be locked either, and the feature is not part of ChatGPT for Healthcare.
Locked Chat vs Temporary Chat vs Delete
Temporary chat: never written to history and never used for memory, but it is gone once you leave. Best for something you never want stored.
Locked chat: stored, hidden, and reachable later with a PIN. Best for sensitive material you will need again.
Delete: removed for good. Best when you are done with the conversation.
Work Accounts: Your Admin May Still See It
On ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu, locked chats still appear in conversation logs available to administrators through the OpenAI Compliance Platform, even though an admin cannot unlock them directly. Locking is a privacy feature for the person standing next to you, not a way around your employer's policies.
Quick PIN Hygiene
1) Avoid 1234, 0000, or your birth year — the point is a lock, not a formality.
2) Enable biometrics on your phone so you are not typing the PIN in public.
3) Back up anything critical before locking, because a reset wipes it all.
4) On shared computers, sign out of the account instead of relying on the chat lock alone.
FAQ
Is a locked chat end-to-end encrypted?
Answer: No. OpenAI says locking does not add end-to-end encryption or create a separate encrypted vault.
Does locking change what OpenAI trains on?
Answer: No. Your retention and model-improvement settings stay exactly as they were.
Where do locked chats live?
Answer: In a dedicated Locked chats project, separate from your normal history, pinned chats, and search results.
Do I get it on the free plan?
Answer: Yes. OpenAI says it is rolling out gradually to Free, Go, Plus, and Pro users on web, iOS, Android, and the new desktop apps for macOS and Windows.
The option is missing from my menu. Why?
Answer: The rollout is staged, so it can take several days to reach your account. Also check that the chat is not temporary, archived, or a group chat.
Bottom Line
Locked Chats is a genuinely useful everyday privacy feature: two clicks, a PIN, and your most personal conversations are out of sight on a shared screen. Use it for chats you need to keep, use temporary chats for everything you do not, and never lock something you cannot afford to lose if you forget four digits.
Sources: OpenAI ChatGPT release notes, October 20, 2026 — help.openai.com; TechCrunch, October 20, 2026 — techcrunch.com.
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