Chat locking extensions hide specific ChatGPT conversations behind a password so nobody scrolling your history finds them. That is a different job from Docognito, which disguises the whole interface so it never reads as a chatbot in the first place. Pick the tool that matches the moment you are actually worried about.
What a chat-locking extension actually protects
A small category of browser extensions adds a password or PIN screen in front of specific ChatGPT conversations, or in front of the chat history list as a whole. The idea is straightforward: mark certain chats as private, and the extension hides them from the sidebar or requires a code before they will display again. Anyone who opens your account, whether that is a shared computer, a browser left signed in, or someone who gets hold of your device after you have stepped away, does not see those conversations without the code.
Some versions of this feature go further and hide the entire chat list behind a single master code, rather than marking conversations one at a time, which is faster to set up but means every saved chat is treated the same way regardless of how sensitive any individual one actually is. Either version solves the same underlying problem: keeping saved content away from whoever opens the account after you.
This solves a genuine problem, and it solves it for a specific moment: the account being accessed by somebody other than you, after the fact. That moment is real, particularly on a shared or unattended device, and a lock is a reasonable answer to it.
What it does not touch
None of this changes what the page looks like while you are the one using it. A locked chat still shows exactly like any other ChatGPT conversation the moment you enter the code and start typing, chat bubbles, a composer bar, the sidebar, all present and all recognisable to anyone glancing at your screen in that moment. The lock protects the account at rest. It does nothing about the interface in use.
This is worth separating clearly, because the two failure modes are not the same failure. Somebody scrolling your saved chats later is a data exposure problem. Somebody glancing at your screen while you type is a visual exposure problem, happening in real time, and a password screen that only appears when the app is closed and reopened has no bearing on it.
Two different jobs, compared
| Job | Chat-locking extension | Docognito |
|---|---|---|
| Protects saved conversations from someone else opening the account | Yes | No |
| Changes what the page looks like while you actively use it | No | Yes |
| Requires a password or PIN | Yes | No |
| Adds a visible lock icon or prompt of its own | Often | No |
| Works the instant a colleague glances at your live screen | No | Yes |
The row that separates the two products is the last one. A lock has nothing to say about a live glance, because it was never built to.
What Docognito changes instead
Docognito does not ask for a password, does not lock anything, and does not store or manage your conversation list in any way. What it changes is the visible page, redrawn as a document editor, the moment you are actively looking at ChatGPT or Claude, so a live glance registers a document editor rather than a chat interface. There is no code to enter and nothing to remember, because the disguise is the default state of the page whenever it is turned on.
the address bar, which still reads claude.ai or chatgpt.com A chat lock and the disguise share that same limit: neither one touches the browser's own chrome, and neither claims to.
Using both for different threats
If a shared or unattended device is part of your situation, both tools earn their place at once.
Use a chat lock for the device, not the moment
Keep it in place if your device is shared, left unattended, or used by more than one person, since it protects exactly that scenario.
Use the disguise for the session, not the account
Shift and Escape, which both hides the disguise and brings it back toggles Docognito, and it needs one browser permission, storage to run, which is worth checking before you install anything that claims to touch your chats.
Do not expect either one to cover the other's job
A lock will not help while you are typing in front of someone, and a disguise will not help if someone opens your account after you have stepped away.
If installing anything at all is off the table, the options that need no extension are covered separately in hiding ChatGPT without an extension.
A lock for the account, a disguise for the screen
A chat-locking extension is worth having if your device is ever shared, unattended, or accessible to somebody else after the fact, because that is precisely the moment it protects. It does nothing for the moment you are actively using ChatGPT and someone is looking at your screen, since that moment happens before any lock would ever engage. Docognito is built for that second moment specifically, changing the page itself rather than guarding access to it.
Use a chat lock for the account at rest, and use Docognito for the screen while you work.