ChatGPT Privacy Cleanup Checklist

ChatGPT has five privacy controls, and each one does a different job. Learn what each control does, then use the cleanup checklist to review saved memories, chats, Library files, connected-app conversations, training controls, and account deletion separately.

What this helps you do

Pick the right control for the job: hide a chat behind a PIN, forget a detail, keep new chats out of model training, ask a one-off question, or stop past chats from shaping new answers. Then remove information you no longer want saved, and know which controls delete old material and which only change what happens next.

Before you start

Sign into the correct personal or work account. Export anything you need to keep. Deleted chats cannot be restored through the interface.

Locked Chats is rolling out gradually, so you may not see the option yet. Update the ChatGPT app and check again later if it's missing.

Terms to know

• Archive: hides a chat but keeps it in the account.
• Saved memory: information stored separately for use in later chats.
• Data Controls: settings that include chat deletion and model-improvement choices.
• Chat-history reference: a setting that lets ChatGPT draw on your past conversations when it answers you now.
• Temporary Chat: a one-off conversation that stays out of your history and doesn't create memories.
• Locked chat: a conversation hidden behind a four-digit PIN. It drops out of your regular history, pinned chats, and search.
• Retention: how long OpenAI keeps your data.

Step-by-step

The five privacy controls

1. Data Controls. Open Settings → Data Controls and turn off Improve the model for everyone if you don't want new chats in your personal workspace used to train the models. This changes what happens to new chats. It doesn't delete old ones.
2. Saved memories. Open Settings → Personalization → Memory, then open Manage (in some versions it's labeled Saved memories). Read through everything ChatGPT has kept about you and delete what you don't want. Deleting a chat doesn't remove a memory it created, so delete both.
3. Chat-history reference. In the same Settings → Personalization → Memory screen, turn Reference chat history on or off. Off means ChatGPT stops drawing on past conversations in new answers. Your saved memories stay, and your old chats stay in your history until you delete them. Turning off Reference saved memories also turns this off.
4. Temporary Chat. Start a new chat and turn on Temporary Chat at the top of the screen. Use it for a one-off question. It won't show up in your history, and it won't create memories. OpenAI may still keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety.
5. Locked Chats. Open the chat, click the three dots, and choose Lock chat. The first time, ChatGPT asks you to create a four-digit PIN. The chat drops out of your regular history, pinned chats, and search.

To open a locked chat again, go to Projects → Locked chats and enter your PIN. When you're done, click Lock now and the titles hide again. Locking a chat doesn't delete it, and it doesn't change how long your data is kept. Full details are in OpenAI's Locked Chats help article.

Which control do you need?

• Hide a chat before you share your screen or hand someone your device: lock it first.
• Forget a detail ChatGPT remembered: delete it from saved memories.
• Keep new chats out of training: Data Controls.
• Ask a one-off question that leaves no history: Temporary Chat.
• Stop old conversations from shaping new answers: turn off chat-history reference.

Full cleanup checklist

1. Open Settings → Personalization → Memory and remove unwanted memories.
2. Delete the chats that contain the information. Archiving is not deletion, and locking is not deletion either.
3. Review Library files separately. OpenAI says chats and Library files are managed separately.
4. Delete conversations that used connected-app data if you want retained copies in those chats removed.
5. Open Settings → Data Controls and turn off Improve the model for everyone if you do not want new personal-workspace chats used for training.
6. Review shared links and revoke any you no longer want accessible.
7. Use Temporary Chat for a one-off conversation you do not want saved in normal history or used to build memories. Check the current retention terms before sharing sensitive data.
8. Lock any chat you want out of view, and check Projects → Locked chats to confirm it's there.
9. Use account deletion only if you intend to delete the entire account.

Read OpenAI's current pages on memory, Temporary Chat, Locked Chats, chat deletion and archiving, chat and file retention, and model-training controls.

Copy this

Paste this into your notes and fill in each row as you go.

PRIVACY CLEANUP LOG
Account or workspace checked: [NAME]
Improve the model for everyone setting: [ON/OFF]
Saved memories reviewed: [YES/NO]
Reference chat history setting: [ON/OFF]
Temporary Chat used for one-off questions: [YES/NO]
Chats locked: [LIST]
Locked chats found under Projects > Locked chats: [YES/NO]
Chats deleted or kept: [LIST]
Library files reviewed: [YES/NO]
Connected-app conversations reviewed: [YES/NO]
Shared links revoked: [LIST OR NONE]
Account deletion requested: [YES/NO]

Things to know

Turning off model improvement changes how new personal-workspace conversations are used. It is not the same action as deleting existing chats. Retention rules and business-account defaults differ, so use the current policy for your plan.

A lock hides a chat. It doesn't erase it. Locked chats are not encrypted, and they're kept for the same length of time as any other chat.

Keep your PIN somewhere safe. You can change it if you know the current one, and your locked chats stay. Resetting a forgotten PIN permanently deletes all your locked chats, and OpenAI Support can't recover them. A workspace admin can't reset your PIN or open your locked chats for you.

If something goes wrong

If a chat seems missing, check Archived Chats, then Projects → Locked chats, and confirm the account or workspace. If you need a legal privacy request, use the official OpenAI Privacy Portal rather than relying on a chat instruction.

• You can't find Lock chat in the menu: the feature is still rolling out. Update the app and check again later.
• ChatGPT rejects your PIN: wait and try again carefully. Only reset it as a last resort, because a reset deletes every locked chat.
• ChatGPT still mentions an old detail: check saved memories and chat-history reference. Delete the memory and the chat where you first shared it.

Final check

You pass when each row in the cleanup log has an explicit answer and you can explain which items were deleted versus only hidden or disabled for future use. For Locked Chats, you pass when a locked chat is gone from your regular history and search, and you can open it again from Projects → Locked chats with your PIN.