OpenAI announced Tuesday that users can now lock ChatGPT conversations to keep sensitive chats private when others may have access to their screen or device. Users can protect locked chats with a 4-digit PIN or use Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices.
Users can return to locked chats at any time, unlike the app’s temporary chats, which offer another session that doesn’t appear in the chat history.
The company says this feature is designed for situations where users may be discussing personal things or planning surprises and want to keep those conversations private when handing over the device to a friend or family member to show something in a separate chat.
ChatGPT is increasingly used for private conversations, so the addition of locked chats adds a new layer of privacy to ChatGPT. Of course, locking a chat may limit access, but it doesn’t address concerns about how sensitive information is stored or handled.
OpenAI notes that locking a chat does not encrypt it end-to-end, create a separate encrypted vault, change the chat retention period, delete any information ChatGPT remembers before the chat was locked, or change the “Improving Models for Everyone” setting.
When a user locks a chat, the chat is moved to a dedicated “Locked Chats” section and is kept separate from regular chat history, pinned conversations, and chat search results.
When memory is enabled, locked chats have their own separate memory that is shared between conversations within the section. New messages sent after locking a chat can update its memory, but regular memory does not. This means new information from locked chats won’t leak into regular chats.
OpenAI says that resetting your PIN will permanently delete all locked chats, files, and other content protected by your previous PIN.
Additionally, the (Locked Chat) option is not available for temporary chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from shared links, chats with scheduled tasks, and chats with meeting recordings.
Locked chats are available to users of ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans. The company says this feature is not available in ChatGPT for Healthcare. This feature begins rolling out on Tuesday, so it may not be available to all users yet.
If you make a purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
