How to use ChatGPT with iMessage on a Mac, and what it can't do

Yes, ChatGPT can work with iMessage on a Mac. Since 20 August 2026 (Cult of Mac), the ChatGPT Mac app has an Apple Messages plugin that reads and searches your iMessage, SMS and RCS chats and sends messages through the Messages app, after you approve each one. It works only in the app’s Codex and ChatGPT Work modes on an Apple silicon Mac, OpenAI says it’s available on all plans, and it doesn’t cover WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram (OpenAI).

This guide covers what you need, how to set it up, prompts to try, how to revoke access, what it can’t do and what it means for your privacy. At the end: how to use the same ChatGPT account for your other messaging apps. All details were checked against OpenAI’s documentation on 20 October 2026.

What does ChatGPT’s Messages plugin do?

It gives ChatGPT access to the Messages app on your Mac. In practice that means four things:

• Search: “When did Priya say her flight lands?”
• Read and summarize: “Catch me up on the family group from this week.”
• Draft: “Write a reply to Sam saying I can’t do Friday but Saturday works.”
• Send: it sends through Messages, by default only after you approve the message and the recipients.

It works on iMessage, SMS and RCS chats that are on your Mac. It doesn’t let you text ChatGPT from your phone, and it doesn’t run in ordinary ChatGPT conversations.

What you need

Requirement	Details (as of 20 October 2026)
A Mac with Apple silicon	The plugin is “included only in the Apple Silicon (arm64) build of the ChatGPT desktop app” (OpenAI)
The ChatGPT desktop app	Download it from chatgpt.com/download. Not the web app or the Codex command-line tool
Any ChatGPT plan	OpenAI says the plugin is “available on all plans” in the Mac app. Codex and ChatGPT Work share usage limits that vary by plan (OpenAI pricing)
Messages set up on the Mac	Signed in with your Apple Account. For SMS and RCS, your iPhone must forward texts to the Mac with Text Message Forwarding, and availability depends on your carrier and region (Apple)
Codex or ChatGPT Work mode	The plugin doesn’t work in regular chats

How to set up ChatGPT with iMessage

1. Install or update the ChatGPT app on your Apple silicon Mac and sign in.
2. Open the Plugins section in the app and add Apple Messages. Press reports at launch described it as installed from the app’s Plugins section (Cult of Mac).
3. Switch to Codex or ChatGPT Work. The plugin is only available there.
4. Grant the macOS permissions it asks for. OpenAI says to grant the requested permissions before ChatGPT reads Messages. Its guide doesn’t list them; a third-party blog’s analysis at launch (not from OpenAI) reported Full Disk Access (to read your Messages history), Contacts and Automation (to control Messages) (analysis). Full Disk Access is a broad permission: here’s what it lets an app see.
5. Ask for something, such as “Find my last conversation with Sam and draft a reply.”
6. Approve before it sends. You’ll see the message and recipients. Choose Allow once to send just that message. Always allow sending to this chat lets future sends to that chat go without asking, which OpenAI warns removes your final review.

OpenAI lists one known issue: if a task is set to Full access or approval prompts are turned off, the send confirmation may not appear. Switch to Ask for approval or Approve for me (OpenAI).

Prompts to try

The plugin is only as good as what you ask. Be specific about the person, the time frame and what you want back.

• Find something: “Search my messages with Leo for the name of the restaurant he recommended in September.”
• Catch up: “Summarize the last 50 messages in the Book Club group. List any questions someone asked me.”
• Spot what you missed: “Which of my chats from the past week end with a question I never answered?”
• Draft in your own style: “Read my last 20 messages to Jordan. Draft a reply to her latest message in the same style: same length, same lowercase, no exclamation marks.”
• Turn a chat into a plan: “From my chat with Ana, pull out the date, time and place we agreed for dinner.”

Example, made up for this guide. Jordan wrote: “ok so are we doing the coast thing or not lol”. ChatGPT’s draft, after reading your recent messages to her: “yes doing it. leaving sat morning? i’ll drive”. You change it to “yes doing it, leaving sat around 9? i’ll drive, you do snacks” before approving. The draft got your tone; the details are yours.

ChatGPT has no saved “my texting style” setting, so ask it to read your past messages each time you want a reply that sounds like you. More techniques are in our guide to AI that replies to texts in your style.

How to stop or revoke access

• Remove an “always allow” chat: in ChatGPT, open Settings → Computer use, select Manage next to Messages, click the trash icon next to the chat under “Always allowed to send”, and confirm Remove (OpenAI).
• Remove macOS permissions: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, and turn ChatGPT off under Full Disk Access, Automation and Contacts (whichever you granted).
• At work: administrators of managed ChatGPT workspaces can switch the plugin off through the Computer Use control.

What ChatGPT’s Messages plugin can’t do

• Other apps. It covers iMessage, SMS and RCS only. OpenAI’s plugin list mentions Slack but no WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram plugin.
• Your iPhone. It isn’t in the iPhone app or on the web, and it can’t be used remotely through Messages.
• Intel Macs. It’s only in the Apple silicon build.
• Ordinary chats. Only Codex and ChatGPT Work.
• Remember how you write. There’s no style profile, so every in-style draft starts with a prompt.
• Know what isn’t in the thread. Like any AI, it can misread a message or invent a detail. That’s what the approval step is for.

What about privacy?

The plugin reads your Messages files on your Mac, but ChatGPT’s models run on OpenAI’s servers, so the messages it reads to answer you are sent to OpenAI. That includes the other person’s messages, not just yours. Your ChatGPT account’s data settings apply.

Three habits keep the risk sensible:

• Keep send approval on. Don’t use “Always allow” for chats where a wrong message would hurt.
• Ask about specific chats rather than “everything”, so less text leaves your Mac.
• Remove the permissions when you stop using the plugin.

For a wider comparison of how different tools handle your messages, see our checklist for letting AI read your messages.

Using the same ChatGPT account for WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram

If your conversations aren’t all on iMessage, the plugin only covers part of them. Tera Chat is a free Mac app that brings iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Tinder into one inbox, and it can use your existing ChatGPT account through OpenAI’s Codex (the Codex app or command-line tool, signed in there; Tera Chat stores no OpenAI key). It learns your texting style from how you write, drafts replies that sound like you in any of those apps, and you edit and send them yourself. Our setup guide for using your ChatGPT account (through Codex) or a Claude or Grok API key with Tera Chat walks through it.

	ChatGPT Messages plugin	Tera Chat with your ChatGPT account
Apps	iMessage, SMS, RCS	iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Tinder
Remembers your style	No, ask each time	Yes, plus a tone per contact tag
Where you work	Codex or ChatGPT Work	One inbox, the thread you’re reading
Sending	Through Messages after you approve	You send; Autopilot is opt-in and not available for iMessage
Extras	Search and summarize Messages	Summaries, questions about a chat, missed questions and fading chats
Cost	Included in ChatGPT plans	Free app; uses your ChatGPT plan’s Codex access
Needs	Apple silicon Mac	M1 or newer, macOS 15 or later

Tera Chat also needs Full Disk Access to read iMessage on your Mac. If you use it with Tinder, know that Tinder’s terms ban third-party apps that interact with the service, AI included; Tera Chat connects to your account, so read what Tinder’s rules say about AI first.

What to do next

If iMessage is where you text, turn on the Messages plugin, keep approval on, and start with search and catch-up prompts before you let it draft. If half your life is on WhatsApp or Instagram, compare it with the other options in our roundup of AI reply assistants for Mac.