OpenAI has launched a new add-on to integrate ChatGPT with Apple’s Messages app on Mac devices, allowing the assistant to search iMessage, SMS, and RCS messages, analyze and summarize conversations, prepare draft replies, and send messages after obtaining the user’s approval.
The add-on moves ChatGPT from being a tool that suggests text outside messaging apps to a tool capable of taking actions within Messages. For example, a user can ask ChatGPT to review the calendar and suggest suitable times to send to a specific person, extract topics requiring follow-up from the previous day’s conversations, or find birthday dates mentioned in messages and add them to the calendar. The integration can also be used to help identify potentially unwanted messages.
Sending Requires User Approval
The Apple Messages add-on is available in the Public section of the Plugins interface within ChatGPT. User approval for sending messages is enabled by default, while OpenAI recommends not granting ChatGPT permanent approval to perform sending operations.
For the add-on to work, the ChatGPT app must be granted Full Disk Access in the macOS system settings. The app also requires permissions to access contact names and automation tools. According to MacRumors, the integration relies on AppleScript and macOS Accessibility features to interact with the Messages app.
There is no confirmed information about Apple’s involvement in developing this add-on. It is available to ChatGPT users with Macs powered by Apple Silicon and works through the ChatGPT Work and Codex desktop apps, but it is not currently available within standard ChatGPT conversations.
Why Does This Integration Matter?
The importance of this move lies in giving ChatGPT direct access to personal communications data, rather than limiting it to content that the user manually copies into the service. As the assistant’s ability to read messages and connect them with calendars and contacts expands, the type of permissions granted to it becomes a decisive factor in determining what it can do on the user’s behalf.
Different from the Apple Intelligence Integration
The integration also raises questions about Apple’s approach to protecting message privacy. According to Bloomberg, Apple has long placed the privacy of users’ messages among its core values, while the new add-on allows ChatGPT to access private conversations, with the possibility that the content may be sent to OpenAI for processing.
This differs from using ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence, where Apple asks the user for permission before sending specific content to ChatGPT. OpenAI also says that users who use Apple’s integration without creating an account do not have their IP addresses recorded, their requests are not stored, and this data is not used to train models.
The Messages add-on is not part of Apple Intelligence. Instead, it relies on the system permissions that the user grants to the ChatGPT app on Mac. This points to a trend toward turning desktop apps into agents capable of performing tasks on the user’s behalf, but it makes reviewing permissions and understanding access limits more important, especially when the data includes personal messages.