Published October 21, 2026 · AI News
ChatGPT can now hide individual conversations behind a lock. OpenAI started rolling out Locked Chats on October 20, 2026, and it’s available on every plan, including Free.
How it works
- You lock a chat and it moves out of your regular history and search into a separate Locked Chats section.
- To open it, you use a PIN on web and desktop, or a PIN, Face ID, Touch ID or device unlock on supported phones.
- Unlike Temporary Chats, locked chats stay saved and you can come back to them any time.
- If you use Memory, locked chats get their own memory. New things you say there update that separate memory, not your regular one.
What it doesn’t do
| Locked Chats does | Locked Chats doesn’t |
|---|---|
| Hide a chat from your history and search | Add end-to-end encryption |
| Ask for a PIN or Face ID to open it | Change how long OpenAI keeps the chat |
| Keep new details out of your main memory | Change the “Improve the model for everyone” setting |
| Work on Free, Go, Plus, Pro and business plans | Erase what ChatGPT already remembered before you locked it |
Two more things to know: resetting your PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, and temporary, archived, group, shared and scheduled-task chats can’t be locked.
Who it’s for
It’s a privacy screen, not a vault. It helps if you share a laptop or phone with family, or someone looks over your shoulder. If you want OpenAI not to keep or train on a chat, Temporary Chat and the data controls in Settings still matter more. Free users can lock chats too; see Is ChatGPT free? for what else the free plan includes.