How to hide ChatGPT conversations without deleting them

Some of your ChatGPT conversations may be more private than others. Fortunately, OpenAI makes it easy to archive your conversations and hide them from prying eyes. Whether you use ChatGPT on the web or your smartphone, hiding those AI conversations is simple.

How to hide ChatGPT chat on web

ChatGPT has an archive feature that allows you to remove any chat from the sidebar with just a few clicks. You can use it to hide chat sessions from the main screen after loading ChatGPT on the web. Follow the instructions below:

1. Go to chat.openai.com and log in with your OpenAI account.
2. Select the conversation you want to hide from the sidebar and click the ellipsis button (...) next to that conversation.
3. Now, select Archive chat from the context menu.

The chat will disappear from the sidebar immediately. To access it, you need to go to the ChatGPT settings menu which the article will cover below.

How to view ChatGPT hidden chat on web

Whether you want to access a hidden conversation or want to unarchive a conversation, you can follow the steps below:

1. Click on your OpenAI account name in the bottom left corner of the ChatGPT page.
2. Select Settings from the context menu.
3. When the settings menu appears, click Manage next to Archived chats .
4. To view a hidden conversation, just click on the name of the conversation. However, to unhide it, click the Unarchive conversation button (next to the Trash icon ).

Remember that anyone can access your hidden ChatGPT chats by going to the same menu as they are not password locked.

How to Hide ChatGPT Conversations on iPhone

ChatGPT's mobile app also lets you archive chats, but for now, this feature is limited to the iOS version of the app. However, OpenAI confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that the feature will soon be coming to Android. Here's how to hide your ChatGPT chats on iOS:

1. Launch ChatGPT on your iPhone and log in with your OpenAI account.
2. Swipe right on the conversation screen to reveal the sidebar, or tap the two lines in the top left corner.
3. Tap and hold the conversation you want to hide and select Archive from the context menu.
4. When prompted to confirm, tap Archive again .

If you don't see the Archive option, make sure your app is up to date. Once you archive a conversation, you won't be able to find it by searching from the sidebar.

How to view hidden chats in ChatGPT app

Just like the web version of ChatGPT, you need to go to ChatGPT's settings menu to access your archived chats. Here's what you need to do:

1. Click the ellipsis button (...) next to your account name in the sidebar.
2. Select Archived Chats located in the Account section of the settings menu.
3. Tap a hidden conversation and select View if you want to read it or Unarchive to bring the conversation back to the sidebar.
4. If you select Unarchive , you will be prompted to confirm. Tap Unarchive again.

As you can see, archiving chats is much more convenient than deleting ChatGPT history if all you want to do is quickly hide specific chats.

Unfortunately, you can't hide or archive multiple conversations at once, so if you have a lot of conversations you want to hide, you'll have to take the time and do it one by one.

While archiving is a great way to organize your secret chats with ChatGPT, it's not as foolproof as using ChatGPT folders to organize all of your chats. It would be great if OpenAI allowed users to password-lock archived chats for added protection in a future update.