Free Access: ChatGPT Now Available on Mac Without Subscription

Just one month after its launch, the ChatGPT desktop app no longer requires a ChatGPT Plus subscription. It’s still limited to macOS, unfortunately.

In terms of design and basic functionality, the ChatGPT desktop app is nearly a carbon copy of the ChatGPT web interface. Your conversation history is listed in a sidebar, you can switch between conversational models from the tap bar, conversations are synced to your ChatGPT account, and so on.

However, the desktop app is notable for its Spotlight -like shortcut, which makes it easy ask quick questions or dump screenshots into ChatGPT. Users can access the shortcut using Option + CMD, though I ended up changing it to something else, as I already use this key combination for Todoist.

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Access to “memory “ functionality, which allows the chatbot to learn about you through different conversations, also appears to be enjoying a wider rollout. Let’s say you’re using ChatGPT to generate cover letters—in this case, the “memory” feature saves you the trouble of feeding ChatGPT your details every time you create a new cover letter.

OpenAI is known for its multi-billion dollar partnership with Microsoft, yet it still hasn’t launched a ChatGPT app for Windows. Presumably, this is due to CoPilot , which taps into GPT models and is already baked into the Windows 11 operating system. A ChatGPT app for Windows is currently in the works, but OpenAI is focusing on macOS integration for now.

As for why OpenAI is opening the ChatGPT desktop app to free users—maybe it was planned from the start. In any case, macOS users will soon gain access to ChatGPT through the Apple Intelligence platform (in North America). OpenAI and Apple are getting cozy, and if the rumors are true, Apple isn’t paying any money for ChatGPT integration.

I should clarify that this desktop app, like the ChatGPT web interface, relies on OpenAI’s servers. The chatbot doesn’t run locally on your device.

You can install the ChatGPT desktop app from the OpenAI website. Note that this app requires an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS Sonoma or later. I assume that the Windows version of ChatGPT desktop will support both x86 and ARM PCs, but this hasn’t been explicitly confirmed by OpenAI.

Source: OpenAI