Viewing older chats had become a nightmare

ChatGPT Bugs
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1

TL;DR: OpenAI, please revert the change made to searching for chats, and fix the bug where just viewing a chat causes it to jump to the top of the “Recents” list.

Recently, it had become way tougher to find specific older chats using the iOS app of ChatGPT. I have had this problem in the past as well, but it just got a lot worse recently. I use ChatGPT to store my thoughts from the brain (with chats of the same topic being numbered) and I really don’t want to have them disappear.

I will repeatedly be referring to these two screenshots, labeled A (with no search active) and B (with a search active):

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There were 3 problems that I ran into:

1. ChatGPT refuses to load in older chats

This was a problem I had had for a few years, but it only got worse recently. In the newest update of the ChatGPT iOS app, the left-side panel only shows the most recent 18 chats. For example, in screenshot A, no chats older than disco vibes 532 :man_dancing: will show up, even if I try to load them by scrolling down.

This means I will have to search for them. This is already a bit of a hassle, but it was tolerable before. But now…

2. Names of chats are no longer factored into chat searches, making it very difficult to search

In the last few days, I have noticed that if a chat hasn’t already been loaded, searching for a term used in the name of a chat will no longer make that chat show up. This wasn’t how it used to work — in older versions of the app, searching for the name of a chat will always make it show up.

In screenshot B, I searched for “inner spheres”. Yet the only chats that show up are inner spheres 312–315 (which are already loaded by being in the 18 most recent chats), as well as a few older chats that have the words “inner spheres” as part of the chat content (not chat name) in at least one branch of the chat (even when it is not the primary one).

As you can tell, a lot of chats are missing — the search jumps from inner spheres 308 to inner spheres 270, skipping everything in between. Even if I were to search the words “inner spheres 285”, the chat inner spheres 285 would still not show up (it did in previous versions of the app).

This makes searching for chats way tougher, as I now have to somehow remember an exact phrase a chat contains just to search it. And even if I could, that phrase has to be specific enough to not let the chat get buried under more recent chats in the search (so it has to be something a bit longer like “marble rolls gracefully”, not just a single word like “marble”)

3. Sometimes merely viewing a chat is enough to have it jump to the top, messing up order

You might have noticed that some chats were numbered twice. For example, there is inner spheres 312 (inner spheres 87). This is because one time, when I viewed inner spheres 87, without even making any changes (like adding, editing, or regenerating messages), the chat randomly decided to pop up to the top of my chat list, above inner spheres 311.

This isn’t supposed to happen — and it not only causes it to be out of chronological order, but also makes it look like the chat happened at the wrong point in time. It only started happing in the last few weeks — prior to that, just viewing a chat hadn’t caused the chat to jump to the top at all.

2

Hi @entityvalkyrie

Yeah, I get why this is frustrating, especially if you’re using chats like a structured archive. Losing the ability to reliably find older ones breaks that flow pretty quickly.

A couple things here:

  • The behavior you’re describing around only seeing a limited set of recent chats in the sidebar is expected on mobile (it lazy-loads), but it definitely shouldn’t block you from finding older chats via search.
  • The search issue you called out where chat titles aren’t being picked up unless the chat is already loaded doesn’t sound right. Same with chats jumping to the top just from being opened. Both of those feel like regressions rather than intended changes.

I don’t have a confirmed fix to point to yet, but this is exactly the kind of thing we’d want to get in front of the team.

If you’re up for it, a couple details would really help narrow it down:

  • App version (from iOS settings)
  • iOS version
  • Whether this happens consistently or only after certain actions (e.g. after searching, reopening the app, etc.)

In the meantime, one small workaround that might help: searching for a phrase you know exists in the chat body (not just the title), since content search still seems to be working more reliably right now.

If you can share those details, I can help make sure this gets properly flagged.

~SD

3

I am on iOS 17.6.1, and my ChatGPT version is 1.2026.079.

Also, as far as I’m aware, lazy-loading means that these chats should load when requested to load by scrolling to it. But often, I run into the problem where the “loading wheel” would appears for a few seconds, and then disappears, and older chats would refuse to load even when asked to do so with by scrolling.

EDIT: I’m running into a problem similar to one I had in September 2024 — some chats are randomly appearing and disappearing.

4

Since you’re also seeing chats appear/disappear, this could be something going on with the app’s local cache or sync. A few things worth trying:

  • Force close the app and reopen it (not just backgrounding it)
  • Log out and back in to refresh your chat list
  • Check if the behavior is the same on web/desktop, this helps confirm whether it’s app-specific
  • Try a different network (Wi-Fi vs cellular) in case loading is timing out silently

For now, when searching, using a phrase from inside the chat body (not just the title) will still be the most reliable way to surface older chats.

If after trying those you’re still seeing:

  • the loading spinner stopping early
  • chats flickering in/out
  • or search missing obvious matches

let me know, that’ll help narrow it down further.

5

I’m experiencing the same issue, and it is seriously hurting my workflow.

Simply opening an old chat for reference should not move it to the top of Recents. A chat should only move to the top when I send a new message or when the conversation actually becomes active again.

This is especially bad inside Projects, where many users keep old chats as references or archives. Just viewing an old subject should not reorder the entire project.

Please separate “last viewed” from “last active message.” The current behavior makes Projects and long-term chat organization much worse to use.

This feels like a regression, not an improvement. It makes ChatGPT much less useful for people who rely on Projects as a serious workspace rather than casual chat history.

6

I found an additional pattern for the “just viewing old chats makes them jump to the top” issue.

In Projects, newer chats around Nov 30 / Dec 5 / Dec 9 keep their original dates and do not move when I only open them for reading.

But older chats before around Nov 30, 2025 jump to the top immediately when opened, and their displayed date changes to today, May 3.

This looks like the system is updating the chat’s metadata just from viewing it, possibly using “last viewed” or “updated_at” instead of “last message time” for sorting.

Please make Recents/Projects sort by actual last message activity, not by merely opening or viewing an old chat for reference

7

Thanks for taking the time to share these details, that does sound like an odd experience.

For this one, the best next step would be to reach out to support and create a ticket. They’re in the best position to investigate the behavior you’re seeing and provide further assistance.

Appreciate you flagging this!

~Smith

8

Hi! It’s been a month since you responded to me. Sorry for the delayed response, but I had been scared to update my ChatGPT app.

Because, if I were to update the app, and it so happens that the newest version of ChatGPT not only didn’t solve these problems but also introduced new bugs which made things even worse… then I would be in regret. Once I update the app, I can’t down-date it back.

So, I need to confirm that these bugs are no longer present on the newest version of the app, and that no other bugs are affecting the ability to view older chats, before I can feel safe updating the app.

EDIT: Older chats are more susceptible to jumping to the top just by looking at it. Once a chat becomes this way, it stays this way, and will always jump to the top when selected. Please fix this.

9

Thanks for reporting this. Could you please create a support ticket by contacting support@openai.com and then share the case ID here? That’ll help me investigate the issue further for you.