ChatGPT adds PIN-protected folders to hide selected conversations
OpenAI is gradually rolling out locked chats, a feature that lets ChatGPT users hide selected conversations from their usual history, pinned chats and search. Access requires a four-digit PIN, with Face ID or similar authentication also available on iPhones and Android phones, helping prevent people nearby or borrowing a device from viewing private conversations.
Locked chats are grouped in a project and are not end-to-end encrypted; they do not change data retention or model training settings, or remove OpenAI’s legal obligations. Resetting the PIN deletes all locked chats and uploaded files in that project, and OpenAI Support cannot recover them. The feature is coming to free, Go, Plus and Pro accounts, supports voice mode on mobile, and cannot lock Codex conversations.
- ChatGPT is adding PIN-protected locked chats.
- Phone biometrics can also unlock them.
- Resetting the PIN permanently deletes their contents.
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ChatGPT is an AI service made by OpenAI that lets people have text or voice conversations with a computer programme. Its chat history can include personal information, and people who share or lend a device may be able to see conversations left open or listed in the app.
Users can organise conversations into projects, which group related chats and files. Privacy features such as PINs or phone authentication can limit who can open selected chats, but they do not change how the service stores data or handles it under its other settings and legal obligations.
The distinction matters because hiding a conversation from view is different from encrypting it so the service provider cannot read it. Anyone using such a feature also needs to understand what happens if they lose access, particularly where resetting a PIN may delete chats and files.
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Originally published by Engadget as “ChatGPT now lets you lock sensitive chats behind a PIN”.