OpenAI has given ChatGPT access to Apple’s Messages app on the Mac. The new plugin, launched on August 20, can read, search, summarise and draft iMessages, texts and RCS messages.

It is available to ChatGPT Work and Codex users on Apple silicon Macs. To enable it, users must grant ChatGPT full disk access, contacts access and permission to control the Messages app.

OpenAI says the plugin runs locally and does not build a full copy of a user’s messages. But anything the user asks about is processed by its models, which means message content can leave the Mac.

By default, sending a message needs the user’s approval. Users can change this to “always allow,” which lets the AI send messages on its own.

Privacy experts are worried about a consent gap. Only one side of a conversation needs to turn the feature on. Messages from friends who never agreed can still be read by the AI.

Apple has not blocked the plugin. The company sued OpenAI in July over trade secrets, so the timing is awkward.