Meta AI launches desktop app for Mac, can read an entire app window

According to TestingCatalog, Meta has officially released a desktop app for macOS in select regions. There are two core features. One is screen sharing, which attaches a user-designated app screen as conversation context. The other is dictation input.

The official introduction page now has a spot for the Mac app as well. The description on the page reads: "Let Meta AI see any window on your desktop to get things done, or dictate with your voice in any app."

Meta AI is the AI division of Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram. It made its name with the downloadable model Llama, and in August 2026, after acknowledging Llama 4's failure, released its successor model, Muse, as open source. According to Meta's official FAQ, the model powering the assistant is Muse Spark from Meta Superintelligence Labs.

Where to get it

The installer can be downloaded directly from the official Meta AI Assistant page. This is a direct distribution method by Meta, bypassing the Mac App Store.

1. Open the address above in your browser.
2. Click "Download for Mac (Beta)" at the bottom of the landing page. The same button also appears in the "Works where you do" card midway down the page.
3. Meta-AI-1.0.dmg downloads immediately. It's labeled version 1.0, in beta status.
4. Open the dmg, move the app to the Applications folder, launch it, and log in with your existing Meta account. There's no need to create a new account.

On the same page, iPhone and Android users are directed to App Store and Google Play badges, while web users go to meta.ai.

The app is free by default. However, the FAQ includes a condition: "We've begun testing usage limits for some compute-intensive features. If you hit daily or monthly limits, you can purchase a subscription to unlock more usage." So while the app itself is free, heavier features come with a paid subscription layer.

What's required on Mac

Meta hasn't posted system requirements on the page. The figures below are drawn from foreign media reports (9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TheNextWeb) that installed the app and reported consistently on the following.

Item	Value
OS	macOS 15 or later
Chip	Apple Silicon native
Distribution	Direct dmg from official page (not Mac App Store)
Version	1.0 · Beta
App size	About 16MB
Implementation	AppKit·SwiftUI + WebKit (not Electron or a mobile repackaging)
Pricing	Free · usage limits on some features

Meta hasn't stated whether the app runs on Intel Macs. There's also a summon shortcut — pressing Option (⌥)+Space brings up a small input box anywhere on screen.

Features touted alongside the app

• Answers grounded in the world around you — cites public posts from Instagram, Facebook, and Threads to answer questions
• Not just answers, but action · Deep research · a new way to shop · local recommendations · connecting to your business — five branches the page lists
• Instant and Thinking — quick answers use Instant, complex questions use Thinking, which reasons for longer. The Thinking dropdown in the desktop app's input box is this selector
• Voice mode — supports 13 languages
• Incognito chats — Meta states: "Messages are processed in a secure environment that no one, including Meta, can access"
• Photos, files, documents — upload contracts or spreadsheets, and compare multiple product photos side by side. Multiple files can be sent at once

What's in the app screen

The app opens with the greeting "What are you thinking this evening?" and an "Ask Meta AI..." input box. The sidebar and bottom tab layout suggest this app isn't meant for one-off questions.

Location	Item	Purpose
Sidebar	Media	Images and videos exchanged
Sidebar	Artifacts	Outputs generated from conversations
Sidebar	Scheduled	List of scheduled tasks
Sidebar	Pinned / History	Pinned conversations and past history
Bottom tab	Try Meta AI	Suggested prompt cards
Bottom tab	Ask anything	Free-form questions
Bottom tab	Take action	Action-oriented tasks
Input box	Thinking dropdown	Response mode selector
Input box	Microphone icon	Dictation input

The Scheduled item and the "Setting up daily digest" conversation pinned under Pinned signal that the app is designed for tasks set up once and run repeatedly. The Take action tab points the same direction, and there's even a setting to hide the Dock icon, suggesting the app is meant to run persistently in the background and be summoned only via shortcut.

Six prompts the app surfaces first

The example cards laid out in the Try Meta AI tab reveal exactly what the company envisions this app being used for.

• "Explain Gen Z slang"
• "Plan a Korean BBQ dinner"
• "Audit my paid subscriptions"
• "Plan a perfect Saturday"
• "Explain mythical creature biology"
• "Recap my calendar and email"

Three of the six — auditing subscriptions, planning a schedule, and summarizing email — involve scanning personal data. This is arranged to be used in tandem with screen sharing, such as having a billing screen open while asking for a subscription audit.

A door opened toward creators and small businesses

What foreign outlets consistently pointed out is that the app leans more toward account management than personal assistance. Meta states: "When you ask Meta AI about your business, you can get answers drawn from context only Meta has, like account engagement or ad performance."

Reported use cases include reading reach, likes, shares, and save metrics to get suggestions for what to post next, scheduling recurring weekly performance reports, and combining account and web data to build decks, documents, and spreadsheets. Direct integration with Google Workspace has also been reported. The fact that ad performance data is included suggests this app isn't only targeting the role of a personal assistant.

How to try it

Where to start — Launching the installed app immediately brings up the main screen with the "Ask Meta AI..." input box. Most tasks can be started from this screen without going through a separate settings menu.

1. When you open the app, you'll see three tabs at the bottom: Try Meta AI, Ask anything, and Take action. If it's your first time, try clicking one of the cards in the Try Meta AI tab. The card's text is entered directly as a question.
2. To ask your own question, type it in the input box. Choose the response mode from the Thinking dropdown in the bottom right — Instant for quick answers, Thinking for questions requiring longer reasoning.
3. To speak instead of type, click the microphone icon to the right of the input box. What you say is converted into text.
4. To ask a question while showing another app's screen, use screen sharing. Once you designate a target app, that app's screen is attached as context for this conversation. It works at the level of a specific app, not the entire screen. Since it works by reading text and capturing the screen, you'll need to grant Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions in macOS System Settings the first time.
5. To ask a question without bringing the app to the foreground, press Option+Space. Only a small input box appears.
6. Find generated images and videos again in the sidebar's Media section, and other outputs like documents in Artifacts. Frequently used conversations go under Pinned, and recurring tasks go under Scheduled.

Who can use it — macOS 15 or later, on Apple Silicon Macs. The official announcement only states the launch covers "select regions" without specifying which ones. However, as of August 20, 2026, the "Download for Mac (Beta)" button still appears even on the official page displayed in Korean.

What you can try — The most intuitive use is opening a spreadsheet, attaching that screen, and asking which cell's calculation is off. You can also attach the settings screen of an unfamiliar program and ask which options to adjust.

The race to occupy the desktop window

On August 18, TestingCatalog spotted traces of a Computer Use feature in the Gemini desktop app's settings, allowing control of other apps and access to designated folders. Reading a screen and manipulating a screen are different stages, but it's clear both companies are moving in the same direction — keeping AI resident on the operating system rather than confined to a browser tab.

The position this Meta AI app occupies is in the earlier part of that trend. It has reached the point of reading the screen to use as context, and it comes equipped with scheduled tasks and an output archive. But there's a clear line it hasn't crossed yet. This app reads the screen — it doesn't click for you.

Editor's view

Screen sharing may look like a single line item in a feature list, but in practice it removes one of the most annoying frictions in using AI tools. Until now, showing something to an AI on desktop meant opening a capture tool, selecting an area, saving it, moving windows, and pasting it in — four separate steps. Do that ten times a day and it becomes a chore in itself, leading people to settle for vague descriptions and getting off-target answers. It also matters that this works at the level of a specific app rather than the entire screen. Rather than handing over your entire messenger window or personal inbox, the structure only opens the one window that's needed.

An AI confined within the web can't help with tasks outside the web. Local file names, accounting program screens, and editing tool timelines were all areas the AI previously couldn't see. Once a desktop app starts reading the screen, that wall lowers — and the scope of permissions granted grows accordingly. Once you enable Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions at install, it becomes hard to visually confirm when and what the app is reading. On a company laptop, the first step should be checking internal security policy.

The pricing structure is also worth examining in advance. The app is free, but Meta itself states it's testing usage limits for compute-heavy features. Before building work processes around this app, it would be safer to first measure where those limits kick in.

There are three points domestic teams should assess now. First, test in a small scope whether screen-context-based queries actually save working time. For roles where repetitive capture-and-paste tasks occur five or more times a day, it's worth trying. Second is scheduled tasks. Setting recurring tasks and summaries under Scheduled is convenient, but which data gets automatically scanned every day becomes a policy issue. Third is account linking. The feature that answers questions about post performance and ad data is highly valuable for teams running social accounts, but it also means handing account permissions over to the app.

Things to watch going forward: how far the launch region expands, whether a Windows version arrives, and whether the app moves from reading the screen to clicking on it. The next battleground for desktop AI apps won't be decided by model performance, but by how many windows users are willing to open up to it.