![\"ChatGPT's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1200-675-27450877-1107-27450877-1787317665622.jpg\"\/ "\\"ChatGPT's")
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Representational Image (Image Credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Hyderabad: OpenAI’s new plugin for the Apple Messages app, available in ChatGPT’s macOS desktop app, has raised privacy and security concerns. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new plugin allows the Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot to access iMessage users’ messages. This means ChatGPT can read, write, and send text messages on users’ behalf. It can also search old conversations and summarise them. <\/p>\n
The Messages plugin does not hack anything on the user’s Mac; instead, it uses built-in Mac tools such as AppleScript and Accessibility features that let apps control other apps\u2014the same category of tools other automation software uses. <\/p>\n
Moreover, it requires step-by-step approval from the user. This means users have to allow ChatGPT to access their Mac’s on-device Messages history when the permissions screen pops up during the setup. Users are also asked to change their privacy preferences in Mac’s System Settings to give ChatGPT Full Disk Access. In addition, they will have to enable permissions for contacts and automation tools when prompted by macOS.<\/p>\n
The plugin works when users specifically open the ChatGPT Chat Bar or chat window and start either a ChatGPT Work or a Codex session. Moreover, the Messages plugin will not work in the standard ChatGPT conversations. So, in short, the plugin does not automatically get installed on a Mac device.<\/p>\n
It is still unclear whether OpenAI and Apple have worked together to develop the new Messages plugin. This is because Apple has a history of shutting down apps that mess with iMessage. <\/p>\n
Third-party apps or plugins have access to its services only if they get permission to do so. For instance, in December 2023, Beeper Mini \u2014 an Android app that lets users send and receive iMessage texts using their actual phone numbers \u2014 was blocked by Apple within days of its launch. Over the following weeks, Apple repeatedly shut down the workaround while Beeper repeatedly patched around it, leading to a back and forth cat and mouse fight. Apple ultimately won the fight, and the app was officially discontinued and removed from the Google Play Store in January 2024. <\/p>\n
Apple stated that the app reverse-engineered the iMessage network to allow Android users to send the company’s exclusive blue-bubble texts. It also noted that Beeper Mini used fake credentials and exposed its users’ metadata to spam and phishing \u2014 creating privacy and security risks. <\/p>\n
So the catch here is that Apple has built its entire brand around protecting user privacy, especially their messages. However, OpenAI’s new plugin pulls data out of Apple’s most private messaging app, raising privacy and security concerns. <\/p>\n
Gurman stated that Apple has not provided a response regarding the matter. <\/p>\n
Moreover, the issue comes at a time when the Tim Cook-led company filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. Apple accused the AI company of stealing trade secrets as it seeks to build its own hardware for ChatGPT \u2014 reports suggest the AI company is likely to make a phone with an AI operating system. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Representational Image (Image Credit: Getty Images) Hyderabad: OpenAI’s new plugin for the Apple Messages app, available in ChatGPT’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[319,53205,72330,580,72274,72331,157],"class_list":["post-147300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-apple","tag-apple-openai-lawsuit","tag-apple-openai-privacy-concerns","tag-chatgpt","tag-chatgpt-imessage-plugin","tag-chatgpts-new-apple-messages-feature-on-mac-sparks-privacy-concerns","tag-openai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}