ChatGPT Mac app can now read Apple Messages and write replies for you

According to TechCrunch, the plugin does more than just search. It can sort and organize messages, delete specific ones, and even draft and send replies on the user's behalf. It can also be used to dig up information buried somewhere in a long chat history. The plugin works not only in the personal ChatGPT app but also in the coding agent Codex and the enterprise-focused ChatGPT Work, meaning it can be applied to work tasks as well.

How to try it

In a reply to the announcement, OpenAI's official ChatGPT account shared the exact installation path and example prompts.

Where to start — Open the ChatGPT app for Mac, go to the Plugins menu, select the Public tab, and install the Messages plugin.

Prompts to try after installing — The ChatGPT account itself offered these examples:

• "Check my calendar and reply to [name] with a few times I'm free for dinner next week"
• "Suggest follow ups from yesterday in messages"
• "Find birthdays in @ messages and add them to my calendar"

What you can do with it — For instance, if you haven't opened your inbox in days, you can ask ChatGPT to pick out messages from yesterday that need a reply and even generate drafts. Scattered details like birthdays or plans buried in a family group chat can also be pulled out and added to your calendar in a single conversation. However, neither outlet specified details on country-by-country availability or plan-based limitations.

Send-review safeguards and privacy explanation

Because the feature can actually send messages on a user's behalf, OpenAI emphasized its safeguards. OpenAI's documentation recommends a setting that requires confirmation before every send, noting that turning on persistent approval means "you lose the chance for ChatGPT to give you one last review before sending a message on your behalf." In other words, the default is confirmation before every send, and automatic sending is an option users must turn on separately.

Connecting an entire personal chat history to ChatGPT naturally raises privacy questions. OpenAI told Bloomberg that the plugin runs locally on the user's device and "doesn't index the entirety of a user's messages." TechCrunch noted, however, that it remains unclear exactly what this explanation means, and said it had asked OpenAI for further clarification. On X, reactions were mixed — some users questioned whether it was wise to connect an inbox containing card information or personal content to an AI, while others said having even family texts opened up to AI felt like an invasion of privacy.

Editor's take

In recent weeks, OpenAI has rolled out a string of features — desktop apps for Mac and Linux, credit gifting, a teen mode — that push ChatGPT deeper into devices and everyday life. This Apple Messages plugin stands out even within that trend, since it opens up one of the most personal spaces of all: the text message inbox. Granting actual send permissions, not just search and summarization, signals an intent to have ChatGPT function as an agent rather than merely an assistant.

Integrations like this tend to split user reactions into two camps. One is the convenience of getting a backlog of messages organized; the other is the anxiety that words you never wrote could go out under your name. OpenAI's decision to leave persistent approval off by default and recommend review before every send appears to be a design choice made with that second concern in mind. Still, the explanation of local execution and non-indexing alone doesn't paint a full picture of how much message content — and in what form — actually travels to ChatGPT's servers.

Companies or teams in Korea considering this feature should first separate personal and work accounts. Since the plugin also connects with Codex and ChatGPT Work, there's a real possibility that work messages and personal texts could end up mixed under a single plugin. Teams with heavy repetitive workflows may be tempted to turn on persistent approval, but that's exactly where mistakes are likely to happen. It would be safer to keep review-before-send as the default for a few weeks while checking logs to see exactly which messages ChatGPT is actually involved in.

While Apple keeps its own AI features contained within the iPhone and Mac, OpenAI has pushed directly into Messages, one of Apple's core native apps. Once this plugin extends to ChatGPT on iPhone in the coming weeks, its practical reach — currently confined to Mac — will expand considerably.