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ChatGPT Now Lets Users Lock Chats With a PIN or Face ID

OpenAI says Locked Chats stay out of regular history and search, but the lock does not encrypt conversations or change how long data is kept

By AXY AI Desk ·

ChatGPT Now Lets Users Lock Chats With a PIN or Face ID

Key points

OpenAI said on Tuesday that users of ChatGPT can now lock individual conversations so they stay hidden when someone else may be looking at their screen or device. A locked chat can be protected with a four-digit PIN, or with Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices. The company said the feature is starting to roll out on Tuesday, so it may not yet appear for every account.

The change looks small, but it reflects how people now use the chatbot. ChatGPT became widely available after OpenAI launched it in November 2022, and since then many people have moved past quick factual questions. They draft letters, plan trips, work through money worries and talk over family problems with it. The app is increasingly used for personal conversations, and Locked Chats adds a new layer of privacy to that use.

Why a lock is needed on shared devices

Phones, tablets and laptops get passed around more often than people admit. A partner may pick up a device to look up a recipe. A child may borrow a tablet for a game. A friend may be handed a phone to see a photo. In each case, anyone holding an unlocked device could open the sidebar and scroll back through earlier conversations, including ones written for nobody else's eyes.

OpenAI designed the feature for exactly those moments. The company says users might be discussing something personal, or planning a surprise, and want to keep those conversations private when they hand their device to friends or family to show them something in another chat. The aim is to stop a casual glance, not to stop a determined person with time and access. That distinction runs through the rest of the feature.

How Locked Chats works

Once a user locks a chat, it moves into a dedicated Locked Chats section. That section is kept separate from regular chat history, pinned conversations and chat search results. Someone searching the normal sidebar for an old recipe or a work thread will not see locked conversations come up in those results.

Locked Chats is easy to confuse with Temporary Chats, another privacy option in the app. A Temporary Chat is a separate session that does not appear in chat history. A locked chat is different. It stays in the account, and users can return to it at any time. For someone who wants to keep a conversation without making it visible, that difference matters. A Temporary Chat is a conversation a user does not plan to keep. A locked chat is one they do plan to keep, just out of sight.

Unlocking relies on either the four-digit PIN or the device's biometric system. Biometric means a body feature used to confirm identity. Face ID and Touch ID are Apple's versions of that idea, one scanning a face and the other reading a fingerprint. Whether a person can use them depends on the device they are holding.

Memory stays separate from regular chats

ChatGPT has a feature called Memory, which lets the chatbot retain certain information across conversations. With Memory turned on, Locked Chats gets its own separate memory. That memory is shared across conversations inside the locked section only.

New messages sent after a chat is locked can update that separate memory, but they do not update regular Memory. That means new information from locked chats will not leak into regular chats. For someone who discussed a relationship problem or a health worry in a locked chat, those details should not surface later in an unrelated conversation.

What the lock does not do

OpenAI was specific about the limits. Locking a chat does not create end-to-end encryption, a system in which only the people in a conversation can read its contents. It does not create a separate encrypted vault. It does not change how long the company retains the chat, meaning how long the data is kept on its systems. It does not remove information ChatGPT remembered before the chat was locked. And it does not change the setting called "Improve the model for everyone."

That last point is worth slowing down for. The setting controls whether conversations can be used to improve the model. Locking a chat leaves that setting untouched, so anyone who wants to limit that use would need to check the setting separately. The lock is a control on the screen, not a change to how data is stored or used behind it.

The source material puts the limit plainly. Locking a chat can limit access on a shared device, but it does not address concerns about how sensitive information is stored or handled. These are different kinds of privacy. One protects against the person sitting beside you. The other concerns what happens on the company's side after you press send. Locked Chats addresses the first and says little about the second.

The risk of forgetting a PIN

The PIN rules carry their own risk. OpenAI says that resetting a PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, files and other content protected by the previous PIN. A user who forgets the code and resets it does not get those conversations back. Anyone using the feature for something important should keep that in mind before locking a chat.

There are also clear exclusions. Locked Chats is not available for Temporary Chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from a shared link, chats with scheduled tasks or chats with meeting recordings. That list matters because a user could reasonably assume that any sensitive conversation can be locked. In those categories, it cannot.

Which plans get the feature and when

Locked Chats will be available to users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. The company notes that the feature is not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare. Organisations that use that version for work involving medical matters will not have the option, which could matter to them as they weigh privacy tools.

The feature is starting to roll out on Tuesday, and the rollout is staggered, so some users will see it before others. For most people, the practical steps are simple. Update the app, then check whether a Locked Chats option appears in settings or in the chat menu. If it does not appear yet, the rollout has probably not reached that account.

What to watch next

Several questions remain open. The first is how quickly the feature reaches every eligible account. A rollout that starts on one day and finishes later leaves some users waiting, and the announcement does not say how long that will take.

The second is whether the list of exclusions changes. Users who regularly work with shared chat links or scheduled tasks may want those categories covered. That could happen in later updates, but nothing in the announcement says it will.

The third is storage. A lock is a visible step, and it can make people feel more protected than they are. OpenAI has said locking does not change retention or encryption. Anyone who wants stronger protection for what they type will need to watch for changes in how the company describes its storage practices. For now, the lock is best understood as a shield against the people nearby, not against the company that runs the service.

Questions and answers

What is ChatGPT's Locked Chats feature?

Locked Chats lets ChatGPT users lock a conversation so it moves into a separate section, away from regular chat history, pinned chats and search results. The chat can be protected with a four-digit PIN or with Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices.

How is a locked chat different from a Temporary Chat?

A Temporary Chat is a separate session that does not appear in chat history. A locked chat stays in the account, and users can return to it at any time.

Does locking a ChatGPT chat make it end-to-end encrypted?

No. OpenAI says locking a chat does not create end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault, and it does not change how long the chat is retained.

Which ChatGPT plans can use Locked Chats?

The company says Locked Chats will be available on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. It is not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare, and the feature is rolling out gradually.

Topics: ChatGPT, OpenAI, Locked Chats, chat privacy, Face ID, Touch ID, Memory feature

Sources: TechCrunch AI

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