Overview
- OpenAI released the Apple Messages plugin for the ChatGPT desktop app on Thursday, August 20, 2026, and made it available across subscription tiers in ChatGPT Work and Codex modes.
- The plugin can read, search, summarize, draft and send messages through Apple’s Messages app for iMessage, SMS and RCS, but it does not enable remote ChatGPT interaction via Messages or work inside regular ChatGPT chats.
- By default the app asks the user to approve each outgoing message and its recipients, though users can grant persistent approval at their own risk and OpenAI warns that persistent approval removes the final review step.
- The integration requires elevated macOS permissions such as Full Disk Access, contact and automation access, uses AppleScript and Accessibility to operate, and managed-workspace admins can disable it with existing Computer Use controls; OpenAI also notes a known issue where some task settings can suppress approval prompts.
- Privacy analysts and journalists say consent is asymmetric because other conversation participants do not grant access, and OpenAI’s assurance that processing is local and that it “doesn’t create an index” of messages has not resolved those concerns, a point that gains extra weight as Apple and OpenAI are engaged in ongoing legal disputes.