ChatGPT Work and Codex Can Now Use Apple Messages and Send Replies

TL;DR

New Plug-In: OpenAI’s new plug-in lets ChatGPT’s Work task mode and Codex coding agent search Apple Messages conversations and send prepared replies from the Mac app. Eligibility: OpenAI offers the plug-in on every ChatGPT plan, but the release requires an Apple Silicon Mac. Setup: Users install the plug-in separately from granting macOS access; the permission lets it read locally available chats. Send Control: ChatGPT normally asks users to approve text and recipients; a revocable setting skips later prompts only for that specific Messages conversation. Mac Workflow: ChatGPT operates the Messages app on the same Mac; an iMessage sent from another device cannot start a remote ChatGPT conversation through this plug-in.

OpenAI has released an Apple Messages plug-in for the ChatGPT desktop app on Apple Silicon Macs, the models with Apple-designed chips. The plug-in gives ChatGPT Work and its Codex coding agent a controlled way to search local conversations and send messages through the Mac’s native messaging app. For Mac users, the release moves ChatGPT from discussing a communication task to carrying it through, while keeping message access and sending behind separate controls.

The plug-in, released on August 20 and available on every ChatGPT plan, works only from a ChatGPT Work or Codex conversation in the macOS app. The workflow separates three decisions: installation makes the plug-in available to those conversations, macOS permission opens the local message store, and a later approval normally controls the outgoing text and its recipients.

How the Messages Workflow Works

Users start in the ChatGPT Mac app’s Plugins directory, install Apple Messages, and open a new Work or Codex conversation. A request can then ask ChatGPT to find an earlier exchange, summarize a conversation, prepare a response, or send one through Messages.

ChatGPT can read and search iMessage, SMS, and RCS conversations that are locally available on the Mac. Sending is described only as an action through Messages, without a protocol-by-protocol promise.

Compared with the Mac app’s earlier permissioned integrations, Apple Messages adds an action that reaches another person. ChatGPT Work so far could only read active content in supported developer tools, with users choosing which apps it could access. The new Apple Messages plug-in can move from finding context to preparing a response and asking to send it.

Access Does Not Equal Send Authority

Reading starts with operating-system access. Setup requires Full Disk Access, the macOS permission that lets an approved app reach protected local data. It gives the plug-in access to the local conversations needed for the requested task.

Sending uses a second control. By default, ChatGPT presents the proposed text and recipients for review. “Allow once” covers the pending send. “Always allow sending to this chat” removes later prompts only for that particular Messages conversation, and the user can revoke it in ChatGPT’s Computer use settings.

OpenAI also documents an awkward interaction between task settings and send confirmation. A task configured to suppress approval prompts may be unable to show the confirmation that Messages needs before sending. A task set to “Ask for approval” or “Approve for me” keeps that confirmation available, preserving the path from prepared draft to authorized send. In managed workspaces, administrators can disable the Apple Messages integration through the existing Computer Use control.

What Local Operation Means

The workflow starts when you open ChatGPT and give Work or Codex a task. The plug-in then indirectly operates the Messages app and conversations stored on that computer. It is not a Messages contact that someone can text from another device to begin a ChatGPT conversation.

In comparison, Anthropic’s Claude Code offers an iMessage plug-in that lets a configured user start interacting with Claude through Messages. OpenAI’s plug-in uses the opposite direction: ChatGPT on the host Mac reaches into Messages to complete a user-initiated task.

OpenAI currently limits the plug-in to its Apple Silicon desktop app, excluding Intel Macs, ChatGPT’s web and mobile apps, the Codex command-line tool, and Codex editor extensions. Access on every plan still requires the Apple Silicon Mac app and a new Work or Codex conversation.

What OpenAI Says About Message Data

The plug-in runs locally, does not create a complete index of a user’s messages, and reads conversations only after a specific request. 

As of August 21, 2026, OpenAI had not specified whether requested message content is transmitted to its models or how long any transmitted content is retained. For users weighing the convenience of message search and approved sending against access to personal conversations, that is the material boundary the release documentation leaves open.