ChatGPT Locked Chats: What the PIN Actually Protects

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Locked Chats on October 20, 2026, with a gradual rollout. The feature hides selected saved conversations from regular history, pinned chats, and search behind a four-digit account PIN or supported device authentication. It changes who can readily open a chat on a device, not how ChatGPT encrypts or retains it.

OpenAI lists Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu as eligible plans; ChatGPT for Healthcare is excluded. On supported iOS devices, Face ID or Touch ID can be used, and supported Android devices can use device unlock. These options are configured per device and do not replace the account PIN.

Lock and reopen a conversation

To lock an eligible conversation, open its ••• menu, choose Lock chat, confirm, then create or enter the PIN. Locked conversations move to Projects > Locked chats. Open that area and authenticate to view one; opening a chat grants temporary access rather than permanently unlocking it. OpenAI’s Locked Chats instructions describe the steps.

Some conversations cannot be locked, including temporary, archived, and group chats; chats created from shared links; and chats with scheduled tasks, meeting recordings, background tasks, or responses saved as project sources. Codex conversations and local Work conversations are also excluded. A locked chat cannot be pinned, archived, moved, or shared, and the Locked chats collection cannot be searched as a whole.

Access behaves differently across devices. On iOS and Android, it ends after one minute away from the chat or Locked chats area, or after one minute in the background; Lock now ends it immediately. On the web, access ends when the tab is refreshed or closed. Desktop access is tied to the app window where authentication took place.

Locking does not necessarily clear every view already open. Another device may continue to show a chat title until its list refreshes; previously loaded content may remain visible in iOS until the app refreshes. On the web, the chat may remain open in the current tab after it is locked. Use Lock now to end access immediately, and refresh or close other open views before sharing a screen or device.

What the PIN changes, and what stays the same

OpenAI says Locked Chats do not add end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault. Locking also leaves the account’s retention and model-improvement settings unchanged. Anyone who opens a locked chat can still copy its contents, so the PIN is an access control for the conversation view, not a replacement for those account settings.

For Enterprise and Edu workspaces, locked conversations remain in message logs available through the OpenAI Compliance Platform. Workspace administrators cannot unlock a user’s chats or reset that user’s PIN.

Memory also has boundaries worth knowing. When Memory is enabled, a locked chat can use relevant information from regular Memory, and locking does not remove information already remembered. Information remembered from messages sent after locking can be used in other locked chats, but not in regular chats. Permanently unlocking a chat may allow its full conversation to inform regular Memory, subject to account settings and workspace policy; information remembered only within locked chats is not automatically added to regular Memory.

An existing share link remains accessible after its chat is locked, and previously shared content stays available through that link. New messages sent while the chat is locked are not added to the shared content. A conversation created from a shared link cannot itself be locked.

Changing a PIN is different from resetting it

Changing a PIN when you know the current one preserves locked chats. Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes the locked chats, memories stored only within them, and files or other content protected only by the old PIN. OpenAI Support cannot recover deleted content. Files uploaded or created inside a locked chat are protected with it; files added from elsewhere in Space keep their own access rules.

Choose Locked Chats when you want to keep a saved conversation out of ordinary views. Temporary Chat is a different choice for a conversation that should not enter history or create or update Memory. Deleting a chat removes it, while a separate file in Space may need its own deletion.