# ChatGPT adds locked chats feature in Android app beta > Source: > Published: 2026-08-28 13:11:22+00:00 # ChatGPT may soon let users hide saved chats behind a PIN or fingerprint: Report Code analysis reveals PIN and fingerprint protection for individual conversations, hiding them from search and sidebar OpenAI is building a way for ChatGPT users to lock individual conversations behind a PIN or fingerprint, effectively making them invisible to anyone casually scrolling through the app. The feature, spotted in the code of Android app build 1.2026.230, hasn’t been officially announced yet, but the implementation is detailed enough to paint a clear picture of where this is heading. Locked chats won’t just sit behind a password prompt. They’ll vanish entirely from the sidebar, chat history, and in-app search results until the user authenticates. ## How locked chats differ from what already exists ChatGPT already offers Temporary Chats, a feature that lets users have conversations that aren’t saved for later reference. Once the session ends, the conversation is gone. Locked chats take the opposite approach. The conversations are fully saved and accessible for future reference, but they’re shielded from casual discovery. You get persistence and privacy at the same time, which is a combination Temporary Chats never offered. The verification layer supports both PIN codes and biometric authentication via fingerprint. ## Why this feature exists now Device sharing is more common than the tech industry likes to admit. Parents hand phones to kids. Partners borrow each other’s devices. Coworkers pass tablets around in meetings. In all of those scenarios, an unlocked ChatGPT history is an open book. OpenAI appears to be responding to a pattern that messaging platforms recognized years ago. WhatsApp introduced chat lock functionality that works almost identically: individual conversations get tucked away behind biometric authentication, removed from the main chat list. The timing also follows other usability improvements in recent ChatGPT Android betas. Pinned chats, for instance, already let users keep important conversations at the top of their sidebar. Locked chats complement that organizational layer by adding a security dimension. ## What’s still unclear OpenAI hasn’t provided a rollout timeline, and the feature remains embedded in code rather than visible to beta testers. One open question is whether locked chats will sync across devices. If a user locks a conversation on their Android phone, will it also be hidden on the web interface or the iOS app? A locked chat that’s still visible on your laptop browser defeats the purpose. There’s also the question of recovery. What happens if a user forgets their PIN and doesn’t have biometric access configured? The code analysis hasn’t revealed a recovery mechanism. Privacy-focused features also raise questions about how OpenAI handles the underlying data. Locked chats are hidden from the user interface, but whether they receive any different treatment on OpenAI’s servers, such as exclusion from model training or different retention policies, remains unaddressed. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).