Did you know: resetting your ChatGPT PIN permanently deletes every locked chat

ChatGPT now lets you lock selected conversations behind a 4-digit account PIN, according to OpenAI’s help article. The feature is rolling out gradually on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu. One rule in that article is worth knowing before you lock anything: “Resetting your account PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, remembered information stored only within locked chats, and files or other content protected only by your previous PIN.” The article says this cannot be undone, and OpenAI Support cannot recover the content.

Change is safe, reset is not

The article separates two actions:

• Change PIN. If you know your current PIN, Settings > Security and login > Account PIN > Change keeps your locked chats.
• Reset PIN. If you forgot it, the same menu offers Reset, and the confirmation button says it plainly: “Reset PIN & Delete” on web, desktop and Android, or “Delete all and reset” on iOS.

Forgetting the PIN does not delete anything by itself. Only the reset does. A workspace administrator cannot reset your PIN or unlock your chats for you. Face ID, Touch ID or Android device unlock can open locked chats on a phone, but they do not replace the PIN, and changing the PIN still asks for the current one.

What locking does not do

The help article lists what a lock does not change. It does not:

• add end-to-end encryption or a separate encrypted vault;
• change how long OpenAI keeps the chat, or your “Improve the model for everyone” setting;
• remove what ChatGPT remembered before you locked the chat;
• delete an existing shared link. Its earlier content stays available until you delete the link separately.

In ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu, locked chats still appear in conversation logs available through OpenAI’s Compliance Platform. Anyone who can open a locked chat can still copy its contents.

Locking is a privacy screen, useful when you share your screen or a device. Store the PIN like a password before you depend on it.