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How to Use ChatGPT Locked Chats with PIN

Step-by-step guide to lock sensitive ChatGPT conversations with a 4-digit PIN or biometrics. Keep private chats hidden from history and search.

October 22, 2026 Yum News

You hand your phone to a friend to show a photo. Or you share your screen during a call. A ChatGPT conversation about personal plans or work details sits right there in the sidebar.

OpenAI rolled out Locked Chats on 20 October 2026 to address exactly that. The feature hides selected conversations from regular history, pinned lists, and search. You protect them with a four-digit account PIN. On supported phones you can also use Face ID, Touch ID, or the device unlock method.

Person holding a smartphone with messaging app open

What Locked Chats Actually Do

Locked chats stay in your account. They do not vanish like Temporary Chats. Instead they move under Projects > Locked chats. Titles disappear from the main sidebar and regular search until you authenticate.

Opening the section requires your PIN or device authentication. After a short period of inactivity or when you leave the area, access ends automatically. On mobile this happens after about one minute away from the section or in the background. You can also tap Lock now to end access immediately.

The feature is available on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans. It works on the web, the ChatGPT apps for iOS and Android, and the desktop apps for macOS and Windows. ChatGPT for Healthcare is excluded. Codex conversations and local Work conversations cannot be locked.

Important Limits

Locking a chat does not create end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault. OpenAI still retains the conversation under its normal policies. The Improve the model for everyone setting is unchanged. If you have opted in, locked chats can still contribute to model improvement.

Information ChatGPT already remembered before you locked the chat stays in regular Memory. New messages in locked chats update a separate memory that stays within locked chats only. That information does not flow back to regular conversations.

Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes every locked chat, any memories stored only inside them, and files protected solely by the previous PIN. OpenAI Support cannot recover the content. Changing a PIN you still remember does not delete anything.

Some chat types cannot be locked at all. These include temporary chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from a shared link, chats with scheduled tasks, and chats that contain meeting recordings.

How to Lock an Existing Conversation

Start with an existing eligible chat.

Open the chat.
Tap or click the more options menu (the three dots).
Select Lock chat.
Confirm by selecting Lock chat again.
Create your four-digit account PIN if this is your first time, or enter the existing PIN.

The chat moves to the Locked chats project. Its title and content leave regular history and search. On other devices that already have the app open, the title may remain visible until the list refreshes. Check those devices before you share a screen.

How to Start a New Locked Chat

If you have already locked at least one conversation, you can start fresh ones inside the protected area.

Go to Projects.
Select Locked chats.
Enter your PIN or use device authentication.
Type a message to begin the conversation.

The new chat stays inside locked chats and never appears in regular history.

How to Open and Manage Locked Chats

Select Projects > Locked chats.
Authenticate with your PIN or supported biometric or device unlock.
Choose the conversation you want.

Access is temporary. When you finish, select Lock now so titles disappear from the sidebar again.

To permanently return a chat to regular history, open it, choose the more options menu, and select Unlock chat. Confirm the action. The chat reappears in regular history. Memories created only while it was locked are not automatically added to regular Memory.

You can rename a locked chat from the same menu. You cannot pin, archive, move, or share a locked chat. Permanently unlock it first if you need those actions.

Files and Memory Behavior

Files you upload or create inside a locked chat are protected while the chat remains locked. They stay hidden from Space and from other chats. Files you added from elsewhere keep their previous access rules.

When Memory is enabled, locked chats can read relevant information from regular Memory. New information from locked chats is remembered only for other locked chats. Unlocking the chat does not automatically move those locked-only memories into regular Memory.

Tips for Everyday Use

Store your PIN in a password manager. You need the current PIN to change it, even if Face ID is enabled on your phone. Forgetting the PIN does not delete anything. Resetting it does.

Use locked chats for conversations you want to keep and revisit, such as personal planning or sensitive work notes, but that you do not want visible during screen sharing or on a shared device.

For one-off private questions that should not be saved at all, Temporary Chat remains the better choice. Temporary chats do not appear in history unless you explicitly save them.

If you manage a workspace, note that locked chats do not override organization policies or compliance logs. Administrators cannot reset your PIN or unlock your chats for you.

Conclusion

Locked Chats give you a practical way to keep selected conversations out of casual view without deleting them. Set a memorable PIN, understand the permanent deletion risk if you reset it, and combine the feature with Temporary Chat when full privacy is needed.

For more ways to work with AI tools in your publishing workflow, see our guide on how to let AI write your blog posts.