OpenAI is giving ChatGPT users a way to keep certain conversations out of sight. The company announced Tuesday that people can now lock individual chats so they stay hidden when someone else picks up their phone or looks over their shoulder. Locked chats are protected by a four-digit PIN, or by Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices.
Once a chat is locked, it moves to a dedicated “Locked Chats” section. It disappears from regular chat history, pinned conversations and chat search results. On iPhone and Android, users will find those conversations grouped under a new project titled “Locked chats.”
The feature works differently from Temporary Chats, the existing option that opens a separate session which never appears in history. Locked chats stay accessible. Users can return to them whenever they want, after entering the PIN or using biometric authentication.
OpenAI says the feature is aimed at situations where a conversation is personal or sensitive, such as planning a surprise, and the user is about to show someone else something on their device. The company has been increasingly positioning ChatGPT as a place for personal conversations, and the new option adds a layer of privacy to that use.
The company is also clear about what the feature does not do. OpenAI says locking a chat does not create end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault. It does not change how long the company retains the chat, and it does not remove information ChatGPT already remembered before the chat was locked. Locking a chat also leaves the “Improve the model for everyone” setting unchanged. Locked chats are not a way to get around OpenAI’s legal obligations if a user runs into trouble with an employer or the law, the company said in a newly published support page.
Memory works on its own track inside the locked section. When Memory is turned on, Locked Chats has a separate memory shared across the conversations in that section. New messages sent after a chat is locked can update that locked memory, but they do not update regular Memory. OpenAI says that keeps new information from locked chats from leaking into ordinary conversations.
The PIN carries a serious consequence. If a user resets it, all locked chats, along with any files and other content protected by the old PIN, are permanently deleted. “This cannot be undone, and OpenAI Support cannot recover the deleted content,” the company warns.
Some chat types cannot be locked at all. The option is not available for Temporary Chats, archived chats, group chats, chats created from a shared link, chats with scheduled tasks or chats with meeting recordings. Voice mode can be used alongside locked chats on Android and iOS, but Codex conversations cannot be locked.
Locked Chats is available to users on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. It is not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare. OpenAI is releasing the feature in stages, so some users may not see it right away. If the option is missing, the company says it may appear within a few days.
Locking a chat can limit who sees it on a shared device. It does not change how sensitive information is stored or handled on OpenAI’s systems, a distinction the company itself makes clear in its guidance.
Este artículo fue escrito con la asistencia de IA.
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