# OpenAI launches ChatGPT Computer History to remember work across Mac apps > Source: > Published: 2026-08-13 20:18:00+00:00 [OpenAI (@OpenAI)](https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2087996496088297746) launched Computer History on Thursday, an opt-in ChatGPT feature that remembers a user's activity across apps and websites on a Mac and draws on that record in future conversations. [https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2087996496088297746](https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2087996496088297746) The feature is rolling out globally through the [ChatGPT desktop app](https://openai.com/chatgpt/desktop/) for Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers. OpenAI said availability in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland will follow in the coming weeks. Users can enable Computer History under Settings > Integrations. Computer History gives ChatGPT a continuing record of what a person does outside the chat window. OpenAI says the feature can use that record to personalize later interactions and reduce the amount of background a user must repeat. A timeline lets users review prior work, while ChatGPT can build skills around tasks it sees frequently. OpenAI described Computer History as an extension of Chronicle, an earlier research preview that used recent screen context to help ChatGPT create memories. OpenAI says the new implementation reduces token usage and adds privacy controls, though its announcement did not quantify the token reduction or describe the storage architecture behind the activity record. ### From conversation memory to computer memory ChatGPT already uses saved memories and prior conversations to retain preferences and personal details when those settings are enabled. Computer History widens the input: the assistant can now derive context from work performed across desktop software and websites, rather than waiting for a user to type or upload it. That change addresses a recurring constraint in AI assistants. Models can produce useful work after receiving the right context, but collecting that context often requires copying documents, describing earlier decisions, naming the relevant tools, and explaining what happened before the current prompt. Computer History is designed to perform some of that collection continuously. The resulting timeline also gives OpenAI a way to turn passive observation into explicit workflows. A user who repeatedly moves between a browser, a document editor, and project software could ask ChatGPT to recall earlier work or build a skill based on that routine. OpenAI has not detailed which applications receive deeper integrations, how far back the timeline reaches, or whether retention limits differ by subscription or workspace. Computer History arrives as OpenAI puts more agent functions inside a single desktop client. In July, OpenAI [combined Chat, Work, and Codex](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes) in its new macOS and Windows app. Work can use local files and desktop apps with permission, while Codex handles software-development tasks. Computer History supplies persistent context that can make those tools less dependent on a new briefing every time a task begins. ### Privacy controls become part of the product Screen activity can contain credentials, private messages, customer information, health data, financial records, and confidential company material. Computer History therefore asks users to opt in, rather than activating by default. OpenAI says users can review their activity through the timeline and manage the feature from the timeline or menu bar. Those controls will carry particular weight for Business and Enterprise deployments. A system that remembers work across applications can save employees time, but it also creates a new category of retained organizational context. Companies evaluating the feature will need clear answers about what is captured, where it is processed, how long it remains available, and which workspace policies administrators can enforce. The Mac-only launch gives OpenAI a narrower environment in which to test that balance. The current ChatGPT desktop application supports both macOS and Windows, according to OpenAI's [desktop documentation](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9395554), but Thursday's Computer History rollout applies to Mac. OpenAI did not give a Windows release date. The initial subscriber list also leaves out ChatGPT Plus, Free, Go, and Education users. Starting with Pro and workplace plans concentrates the rollout among people most likely to use ChatGPT throughout a workday, where persistent computer context has the clearest immediate value and the highest privacy stakes.