How to Delete ChatGPT History and What OpenAI Keeps

Delete a ChatGPT Conversation

Deleting a conversation removes it from your account view and cannot be undone. Confirm the account and workspace first. If the chat contains client information, keep a restricted incident record before deleting it, subject to any preservation obligation.

On the Web or Desktop App

1. Open the chat history in the sidebar.
2. Find the conversation you intend to remove.
3. Open its more options menu, shown as three dots.
4. Select Delete and confirm.
5. Refresh the history and confirm that the conversation is gone.

OpenAI’s chat deletion instructions describe this sequence. If the desktop app does not expose the control, use ChatGPT on the web in the same account and workspace.

On iPhone, iPad or Android

1. Open the app’s sidebar.
2. Find the conversation and press and hold its title.
3. Select Delete and confirm any deletion prompt.
4. Reopen the history to confirm removal.

The mobile app instructions also give an alternative. Open the conversation, select its three-dot menu, then Delete and confirm. Uninstalling the app does not delete account history.

If a chat seems missing before deletion, check the selected account and workspace, then search archived chats. A missing sidebar entry alone does not prove deletion.

Delete All ChatGPT History and Memory

Clear all chats through Data controls, then remove remembered information separately. Archive all chats only hides conversations from the regular sidebar. Archived chats remain stored and searchable.

Clear All Chats

1. Open Settings in the account and workspace you want to clear.
2. Select Data controls.
3. Select Delete all chats.
4. Read the confirmation and confirm deletion.
5. Reopen history and check archived chats for any remaining conversation you intended to remove.

Bulk deletion can affect project chats too. Save any authorised record the firm must retain before confirming.

Remove Saved Memories

1. Open Settings, then Personalization, then Memory.
2. Open Manage or Saved memories if your account shows an individual memory list.
3. Delete every saved memory to clear that list. If you only need to remove client information, delete each relevant entry.
4. If your account shows a memory summary, open its three-dot menu and select Delete and turn off memory.
5. Turn off Reference chat history if that control is present and you want to remove information remembered through past chats.

OpenAI’s memory instructions distinguish the summary from legacy saved memories. Turning memory off alone does not erase saved chats. Deleting a chat alone does not necessarily erase a separate saved memory.

Remove the source chats and relevant files too. Reopen the memory controls to confirm the affected entries are gone. OpenAI can retain deleted-memory logs for up to 30 days for safety and debugging. Information remembered through Reference chat history is scheduled for deletion within 30 days after that setting is turned off.

Remove Separately Saved Files

Deleting a chat does not delete a copy saved separately in Library or Space. In Library, select the file and choose Delete. If Recently deleted appears, choose Delete forever to remove the recoverable copy. Space replaces Library on accounts that have that interface.

Also inspect relevant projects and custom GPT knowledge. Their files have separate lifecycles. OpenAI’s file-management instructions explain the Library controls. Disconnecting a connected app stops future access but does not erase information already included in a chat.

Delete Your ChatGPT Account

Account deletion permanently removes access to OpenAI services through that account, including ChatGPT and the API Platform. Delete a single affected chat instead if the account must remain available. Managed-workspace users need their organisation’s administrator because self-service account deletion is unavailable there.

For a personal account on the web, follow OpenAI’s account deletion procedure.

1. Sign in and open Settings from the account menu.
2. Select Account.
3. Select Delete beside Delete account.
4. Enter your account email or phone number and type DELETE when prompted.
5. Select Permanently delete my account.
6. Retain the confirmation in the firm’s restricted incident record if this is a client-data response.

On iOS, account settings contain Data controls, then Delete account. On Android, open Settings, then Data controls, then Delete OpenAI account. Follow the confirmation and ownership-verification prompts.

If you cannot sign in, open the OpenAI Privacy Portal. Select Make a Privacy Request, then I have a consumer ChatGPT account, then Delete my ChatGPT account. Complete the verification. Cancel unwanted Apple or Google Play subscriptions separately.

OpenAI says account data is deleted within 30 days, except limited data kept longer where law permits or requires it. This covers account content such as chats and files, subject to those exceptions. Copies already exported to another system remain there.

Before deleting an account used by firm software, have the administrator replace and revoke its personal application programming interface (API) keys. Deletion removes the account’s API access, so an application relying on that access can stop working. Shared project resources and service accounts need separate management under OpenAI’s project controls. A personal-account deletion is not an instruction to erase the firm’s whole API organisation.

What OpenAI Keeps After You Delete

OpenAI’s standard rule is removal from account view immediately, followed by scheduled permanent deletion within 30 days. Its chat and file retention policy includes exceptions where content was already de-identified and disassociated from the account, or legal and security obligations require longer retention.

A clear history screen cannot prove that every backend copy has already been erased. Safety or security review can require longer retention. Separately saved files, custom GPT knowledge and project files also need the relevant deletion action. Managed-workspace retention and compliance access can differ from a personal account’s visible history.

The broad indefinite preservation order discussed in older reporting has ended, according to OpenAI’s update on the litigation. OpenAI says a limited historical set remains preserved for legal obligations. The update identifies the affected period. Do not infer that all new chats are held indefinitely or that historical preserved content has been erased.

Deleting a chat does not reverse model training that has already occurred on consumer content. OpenAI’s model-training controls apply prospectively to new conversations after an opt-out. They do not promise to undo earlier training. On personal accounts, submitting response feedback can permit training use of the associated conversation even after opting out.

If Client Information Was Entered

Treat unauthorised client-data entry as an incident requiring containment and assessment. Deleting the chat is one action within that response. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s breach-response guidance calls for containment, assessment, notification where required and review.

1. Stop further uploads and tell the responsible partner or privacy lead. Restrict the incident record to the people managing the response.
2. Record what was entered and when. Identify the account type, files, prompts and any shared links or connected apps. Record the training setting and any response feedback submitted.
3. Preserve enough evidence to understand the incident without creating unnecessary copies of client material. Resolve any legal hold before deleting evidence.
4. Delete the affected chats, saved memories and separately saved files. Remove any further copies within the firm’s control as the incident lead directs.
5. Open Settings, then Data controls, then Improve the model for everyone. Turn it off for an unapproved personal-account workflow and record the change.
6. Assess whether the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies. Assign that assessment to a named person and record the decision.
7. Decide whether and how to tell the client. The responsible partner must consider professional duties and the incident’s consequences, even where statutory notification is not required.
8. Review how the information reached the account and change the firm’s approved-use rule or access controls to prevent a repeat.

OpenAI’s Data controls instructions explain the training toggle on web and mobile. Changing it does not delete existing chats. A screenshot of the toggle after the incident also cannot establish what the setting was when the information went in.

The client confidentiality assessment is separate from whether privacy-law notification is mandatory. Keep the facts distinct from uncertainties about provider access or training use. Tell the client what happened and what the firm has done, without promising that deletion has recovered every copy.

Before closing the incident, reopen the relevant account controls and confirm the visible chats, memories and files have been removed as intended. Retain the notification decision and any provider confirmation with the restricted incident record. Use the ChatGPT privacy guide to set the approved account and settings for future work.