How to Lock Chats in ChatGPT With a PIN (And What Happens If You Forget It)
ChatGPT now lets you hide private conversations behind a PIN or Face ID. How to lock a chat, where locked chats go, and the one mistake that deletes them for good.
People tell ChatGPT a lot: health worries, money problems, relationship stuff. And anyone who picks up your unlocked phone or laptop could scroll through all of it.
On October 20, OpenAI added locked chats. You can now hide chosen conversations behind a PIN, or Face ID / fingerprint on your phone.
Who gets it
Locked chats are available on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu. It's rolling out gradually, so if you don't see the option yet, give it a few days.
How to lock a chat
- Open the conversation you want to hide.
- Tap the three-dot menu at the top.
- Choose Lock chat and confirm.
- The first time, ChatGPT asks you to create a 4-digit account PIN.
That's it. The chat disappears from your history, pinned chats and search.
Where locked chats go
Find them under Projects → Locked chats. You'll need your PIN (or Face ID) to open them.
Use Face ID or your fingerprint instead
- iPhone: go to Settings → Security and login → Account PIN and turn on Use Face ID (or Touch ID)
- Android: choose Use device unlock when it asks
Much quicker than typing a PIN every time.
The big warning: don't forget your PIN
This is the part to remember:
- Changing your PIN is fine. Your locked chats stay.
- Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes your locked chats, and anything stored only in them.
So pick a PIN you'll remember, or save it in your password manager.
What it doesn't do
Locking a chat hides it on your devices. It doesn't change what OpenAI stores or whether the chat is used to train models. For that, check your data controls. Our chatbot privacy settings guide walks through ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
And if you share a ChatGPT account with family, it's still better for everyone to have their own.
