OpenAI Rolls Out PIN and Face ID Protected 'Locked Chats' for ChatGPT
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OpenAI has introduced Locked Chats to protect the privacy of people using ChatGPT on shared devices or in office settings. Protected by a 4-digit PIN and biometric verification, the space also uses an isolated memory architecture to stop sensitive information from leaking into standard chats.
As AI assistants have become an inseparable part of daily life and the business world, the privacy of the information users share with these platforms has reached a more critical level than ever. Many sensitive topics, from financial statements to health questions and from confidential company strategies to personal journal notes, are now discussed in ChatGPT windows. But when you projected your laptop onto a screen in a meeting or handed your phone to someone else for a moment, the chat history visible in the left menu could pose a serious privacy risk.
To solve this problem directly, OpenAI has started gradually rolling out the Locked Chats feature for ChatGPT to all users. The new feature completely hides selected conversations from the standard history and puts them behind a 4-digit PIN, Face ID, Touch ID or the device lock.
How Does ChatGPT Locked Chats Work?
Designed along the same lines as the "Chat Lock" in WhatsApp and other modern messaging apps, the feature lets you both hide existing conversations after the fact and start a secure chat from scratch directly inside the locked space.
When you lock a chat, the following changes happen in the system:
- Hidden from the Main List and Search: Locked chats are instantly removed from the standard chat history in the left sidebar, from pinned chats and from general search results.
- Dedicated Folder Structure: These conversations are collected only under the Projects > Locked chats tab, and authentication is required when you click this tab.
- Cross-Device PIN and Biometric Verification: The 4-digit account PIN you set during initial setup is synced across all your devices. Quick access is available with Face ID / Touch ID on iOS and iPadOS devices, and with fingerprint or screen lock verification on Android devices.
- Auto-Relock: In the web and desktop apps, locked chats lock again automatically when you refresh the page, close the tab or step away from the computer. In the mobile apps, the session locks automatically 1 minute after you leave the locked space or send the app to the background.
The Most Critical Innovation: One-Way Isolated Memory
The most important technical detail that sets Locked Chats apart from a simple UI hiding tool is the isolated memory architecture OpenAI developed for this space.
As you know, ChatGPT's Memory feature uses what it learns from your past conversations to give you more personal answers in later chats. But a sensitive piece of information you discussed in a private chat being referenced by ChatGPT days later in a standard chat you have next to a colleague could have led to a major privacy accident.
OpenAI solved this risk with a one-way memory wall:
1. Reading from Standard Memory: A locked chat can read and use the standard memory saved in your general profile (for example your profession or your preferred programming language). 2. No Information Leaking Out: Information shared inside locked chats, uploaded files and new memory entries created in this space stay completely isolated inside the locked space. Your standard chats cannot access any data from locked conversations or use it in their answers.
Which Plans Is It Available On?
Instead of reserving this privacy layer for paying subscribers only, OpenAI has opened it to a very wide user base. Locked Chats is gradually rolling out across all Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. Only the ChatGPT for Healthcare version, which is subject to special compliance rules, has been left out.
Important Limitations and a PIN Reset Warning
There are two critical technical limits users must know about when using this feature:
- It Is Not End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): Locked Chats is an access control and UI hiding mechanism that stops third parties from seeing your chats at your device or during screen sharing. It does not provide a separate cryptographic vault or end-to-end encryption, and it does not change OpenAI's data retention and model training policies (users who want to turn off model training still need to do so from the privacy settings or with Temporary Chat mode).
- If You Forget the PIN, All Data Is Permanently Deleted: OpenAI has issued a very clear warning: if you forget your 4-digit account PIN and reset it, all your locked chats, the isolated memory entries in this space and the files you uploaded to locked chats are permanently deleted. Not even the OpenAI support team can bring these chats back after a reset.
