OpenAI’s August 20 release notes confirm that the ChatGPT desktop app for Mac can now use an Apple Messages plugin on Apple Silicon Macs. In ChatGPT Work and Codex, it can search iMessage, SMS, and RCS chats, draft replies, and send messages through Apple’s Messages app.
The feature is limited to the macOS desktop app’s Work and Codex modes, and it requires permission to access Messages on the Mac.
What the plugin can do
Once installed from Plugins, open a new chat in ChatGPT Work or Codex and ask it to find, summarize, or draft a message from conversations already on your Mac.
OpenAI suggests trying prompts like:
- 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
- Find potential spam messages I can delete
It can search message history, pull details from old threads, and prepare a reply. It can also send the message through the desktop app after you approve it. You can’t text ChatGPT remotely through Messages, and the plugin doesn’t work in regular ChatGPT chats, on the web, or on mobile.
The permission trade-off is real
OpenAI says you must grant the requested macOS permissions before the plugin can read Messages. The Apple silicon requirement is also explicit; the release is limited to the arm64 build of the ChatGPT desktop app, so Intel Macs are not supported.
By default, ChatGPT asks you to approve the message and its recipients before anything is sent. You can choose “Always allow sending to this chat” to skip future confirmations for that thread, but OpenAI warns that this removes your final review. Its plugin guide also documents a known issue where full-access tasks may not show the send confirmation.
Workspace admins can disable the plugin through the existing Computer Use control.
How to try it
Install Apple Messages from Plugins in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS, then start a new Work or Codex conversation. The plugin is available on all ChatGPT plans, including Free, but only on the Apple Silicon build of the app. You also need Messages set up on your Mac.
If you regularly triage messages on your Mac, the plugin can save you from copying and pasting. If you are not comfortable giving ChatGPT access to your message history, skip it and keep per-send approval enabled.