Unlocking Secrets: How ChatGPT’s Secured Chats Might Conceal Your Private Discussions

0 2 minutes read

Edgar Cervantes

Summary

OpenAI is developing a feature that will allow users to lock their chats. Locked conversations will be hidden from the sidebar, history, and search results, protected by a PIN or fingerprint.
Unlike Temporary Chats, which disappear after the session ends, locked chats will provide a way to save sensitive discussions while keeping them private.
This feature could enhance privacy for users by allowing them to manage personal information without affecting regular conversations.

Your chat history in ChatGPT isn’t always something you may want to share publicly. From trivial math queries to serious discussions about finances or personal projects, there are many exchanges you’d prefer to keep private. OpenAI is reportedly working on a feature to make it easier to protect these conversations from others.

Currently, ChatGPT offers Temporary Chats for users who want to keep certain discussions confidential. However, these chats are not saved, which means you cannot revisit them later. This is where the new locked chats feature, found in a recent update for ChatGPT’s Android application, could become beneficial.

This article is part of Authority Insights, delivering exclusive news and detailed technology insights from the Android Authority team.

A recent version of the app reveals features related to locked chats. It appears this capability will enable you to conceal conversations behind a security measure like a PIN or fingerprint, keeping them hidden from your sidebar and overall search history.

The newly released update includes detailed strings indicating how locked chats will function:

Code

Locked chats
Protect chats with a PIN or fingerprint.
How do locked chats work?
Lock a chat to conceal its title and content from your sidebar, history, and search results. You’ll need your PIN or fingerprint to access it.

Accessing a locked chat through authentication won’t unlock it permanently. The chats will stay locked until explicitly converted back to regular chats. This feature will be especially useful for users who share devices and want to maintain privacy.

Moreover, locked chats can utilize the memory that ChatGPT has from both locked and regular conversations. If a new memory is created from a locked chat, it won’t affect unlocked conversations, meaning these sensitive discussions can be contained.

Code

Will a chat stay locked after you open it? 
Yes. It stays locked until you decide to change it back.
How does memory work with locked chats? 
Locked chats can utilize information from both locked and regular conversations. New messages can tailor other locked chats but won't influence regular chats. Locking a chat doesn't erase any information already stored.

While the exact appearance of the new feature remains unclear, it’s evident that OpenAI is taking steps to avoid user confusion between Temporary and locked chats. Future onboarding documentation will likely clarify the differences:

Code

How are temporary chats different from locked chats? 
Temporary chats aren’t saved in your chat history. Locked chats allow you to save a conversation while keeping it concealed.
Temporary chats don’t create memories unless manually saved. Locked chats are saved, secured by an Account PIN, and create separate memories from your general account data.

The presence of extensive strings in the code suggests that a launch may be imminent, yet the specifics remain uncertain. Plans might evolve, and it’s not assured that locked chat functionality will be rolled out soon or at all.

⚠️ An APK teardown can indicate potential future features based on ongoing code, but these features may never reach a public release.

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