What the lock does — and doesn’t
Locked chats live in a separate section and can be reopened at any time. But the lock is an access control, not a new privacy system. OpenAI says it:
When memory is enabled, locked chats have a separate memory shared across conversations in that section. New messages can update it, but not the user’s regular memory. That keeps new information from locked chats out of ordinary conversations.
Resetting the PIN permanently deletes all chats, files and other content protected by the old code.
Who can use it
The feature is unavailable for temporary or archived chats, group conversations, chats created through shared links, conversations with scheduled tasks, and chats containing meeting recordings.
OpenAI has begun a gradual rollout and says the feature will arrive in ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu. It is not available in ChatGPT for Healthcare, and may not yet appear for every user.
I think the distinction that matters is between hiding a conversation from someone holding your device and protecting its data from the service itself. This feature addresses the first; the announcement is explicit that it does not change the second. The separate memory may help keep sensitive details from resurfacing in regular chats, but it is still part of a product whose retention and model-improvement settings remain unchanged.
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