The Official ChatGPT App Is Now Available on PC
Earlier this year I tried out the free OpenAI ChatGPT app for Mac . And to be honest, it was pretty good: exclusive features like a dedicated launcher and built-in screenshots made using the desktop app much better than a traditional web app.
Unfortunately, users of the free version of ChatGPT did not receive the same service on PC. While the ChatGPT app for macOS has been available to all users since June, the first official ChatGPT app for Windows only arrived last month. Like its macOS variant, this app was initially available to paid subscribers (ChatGPT Plus), so free users still had no access. That is, until Friday.
ChatGPT app is now available to all PC users.
As of November 15 , OpenAI has finally released the ChatGPT application for all Windows users . Whether you pay for ChatGPT or not, or use Windows 10 or Windows 11, you can use the dedicated ChatGPT interface on your PC. To get it, go to the OpenAI download page and select the “Download for Windows” option. Or go directly to the app’s Microsoft Store page .
Like the Mac app, the ChatGPT Windows app does more on your computer than ChatGPT on the web. You can press Alt + Space to access the ChatGPT launcher; you can use Enhanced Voice Mode , which allows you to have a more natural conversation with ChatGPT; and you can use the built-in screenshot option to share images of your windows with the bot.
What’s new in ChatGPT for macOS?
Just because ChatGPT is now available on PC doesn’t mean it works exactly the same as on Mac. In fact, OpenAI has updated the macOS version of the app so it can work with other apps on your computer, a feature aptly named “Work with Apps.”
For now, this feature is limited to coding apps: this includes VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2. If you are not a programmer, you will not be able to use ChatGPT in other applications. However, if you are a developer, this feature can be quite useful: you will be able to query ChatGPT for the code you write directly in the application, instead of having to paste your written code into the ChatGPT application every time.
For the most part, this feature works with macOS’s built-in accessibility protocols. However, some applications may require you to use another program. As TechCrunch notes , VS Code (a Microsoft app) requires an extension to work with Work with Apps. This doesn’t work if you just rely on the MacOS screen reader feature.
As a person who does not know how to write code, this function is obviously not of much use to me right now. However, this is the first step towards making the ChatGPT app work with more apps on Mac. To be honest, I’m not sure I need this integration that much, even though Apple is set to roll out its initial ChatGPT integration with Apple Intelligence next month. We’ll just have to see where all this technology leads.