# ChatGPT can now search and send Apple Messages from your Mac > Source: > Published: 2026-08-21 00:47:00+00:00 # ChatGPT can now search and send Apple Messages from your Mac **The plugin is available in ChatGPT Work and Codex on desktop, with message access and sending governed by app permissions.** By [Ryan Merket](/author/ryan-merket) ยท Published Primary source: [ChatGPT on X](https://x.com/ChatGPT/status/2090499359641329950) ## Why it matters Apple Messages gives OpenAI's desktop agents access to a high-frequency and sensitive workflow, testing whether users will trust ChatGPT to act under their identity. OpenAI added an Apple Messages plugin to ChatGPT Work and Codex on Thursday, giving both desktop agents the ability to search conversations, summarize message threads, draft responses and send replies from a Mac, according to an [announcement on X](https://x.com/ChatGPT/status/2090499359641329950). [https://x.com/ChatGPT/status/2090499359641329950](https://x.com/ChatGPT/status/2090499359641329950) The August 20th release moves ChatGPT further into the small, repetitive tasks that sit between communication and scheduling. OpenAI's examples include asking ChatGPT to check a calendar and offer a contact several available dinner times, identify follow-ups from the previous day's messages, and find birthdays mentioned in conversations before adding them to a calendar. Those examples also show the broader product bet underneath a seemingly narrow Messages integration. OpenAI is packaging access to multiple applications behind a single request, allowing an agent to gather information from one source and take an action in another. A user can ask for available dates and a drafted text without separately opening Calendar, searching a message thread and composing the response. OpenAI says Mac users can install the Messages integration from Plugins > Public. The launch announcement names [ChatGPT Work and Codex on desktop](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001275/) as the supported experiences. ### Messages becomes an agent tool The Messages release follows OpenAI's July 9th reorganization of its integrations around a new Plugin Directory. The directory replaced the previous App Directory and is available in ChatGPT on the web and desktop, including Work and Codex, according to OpenAI's [plugin documentation](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001256-plugins-in-chatgpt-and-codex). OpenAI defines plugins as packaged workflows that can contain reusable instructions, connected apps and setup templates. The underlying apps provide access to external information or actions, while the plugin supplies the workflow ChatGPT or Codex follows. That structure lets OpenAI turn a general-purpose agent into something closer to a task-specific operator without building every integration directly into the model interface. Apple Messages is a consequential addition because it involves private conversations and actions visible to other people. Searching and summarizing are retrieval tasks. Sending a reply changes the outside world under the user's identity, raising the cost of a mistaken recipient, invented detail or poorly judged tone. OpenAI's documentation says plugin access can depend on a user's plan, workspace role, supported surface and administrator settings. Workspace administrators can determine which users receive a plugin and whether an included app is enabled. OpenAI also instructs administrators to review whether a connected app has read-only or write access and whether users must confirm actions before they run. The Messages announcement does not detail a separate permission model for the integration. The broader plugin framework makes those controls part of the installation and workspace configuration rather than treating plugin availability as blanket authorization. OpenAI's [apps documentation](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11487775-connectors-in-chatgpt) says disabling an app or excluding a member's role blocks the related app-backed capability across supported ChatGPT and Codex surfaces. ### Work reaches into personal communication OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Work in July as an agent for longer tasks that can research information, operate across connected apps and files, and produce finished documents. On desktop, Work can also use local files and applications after the user grants access. Codex remains the software-development-focused environment inside the same desktop application. Putting Messages in both products broadens the definition of work handled by these agents. Codex can already operate across repositories and development tools; Work is designed to coordinate less structured jobs. Messages gives each one access to a channel where professional and personal commitments are often made before they reach a calendar, project tracker or document. That makes the integration useful for catching informal obligations that conventional workplace software misses. It also gives OpenAI responsibility for a particularly sensitive data source. The product has to retrieve the right conversation, distinguish a suggestion from a commitment and preserve the user's intent when converting a prompt into a message someone else receives. For OpenAI, the value is frequency. Message searches, follow-ups and scheduling exchanges occur throughout the day, giving Work and Codex another reason to remain open on the desktop between larger assignments. For users, the practical test is whether the plugin saves more time than reviewing its proposed actions requires. OpenAI is starting with a familiar task: finding the text, understanding the thread and writing the reply.