MacGPT: how to use ChatGPT on your Mac

How to download MacGPT

You may install ChatGPT as a remote browser on your Mac desktop using the appropriately called MacGPT application, created by Jordi Bruin. Since the 2022 Christmas season, the app has been available and has received over 370 ratings, many of which are five stars. Although MacGPT is now free, Bruin does take donations. Once it is released from beta, he will put MacGPT up for sale in the App Store for $5.

How to sign in or register for MacGPT

Remember that MacGPT is merely ChatGPT in a Mac environment. When you first open the app, it looks and feels a lot like Apple’s Safari browser, yet everything is very much ChatGPT-like. You will have the opportunity to log in or register for ChatGPT in the welcome window that the browser will load.

You can use your login information to access ChatGPT quickly if you already have an OpenAI account or subscribe to ChatGPT Plus. You can complete setup using a Google or Microsoft account if that is how you log in. Take note that you must authenticate using a security token or app if two-factor authentication is enabled for one of these sign-in methods. You may instantly create an account through the app on-screen if you don’t already have one.

What to expect when using MacGPT for the first time

After logging in, the process will be quite identical to using a regular browser to access ChatGPT. Notifications explain that ChatGPT is a free research preview and that part of the data produced may be false, deceptive, offensive, or biassed.

There is a notification outlining ChatGPT’s data collection practises, as well as a positive comment. The chatbot looks just like the online generator when you arrive there, which displays samples, capabilities, and restrictions. If you already have an account, your history of previous searches should be visible in the upper-left corner. Your desired response will be produced by typing in a fresh prompt, and doing so will also update your history, which you may view by logging into the original ChatGPT in a different browser.

MacGPT special features

There are several features that are specific to MacGPT alone. The programme can have a keyboard shortcut set so that it can be launched without a mouse. The MacGPT preferences, which are found in the top-right corner of the screen, allow you to access this feature.

The MacGPT icon can also be displayed on the Mac screen header as a drop-down application by choosing the Always on top option.

Overall though, ChatGPT’s browser-based version is essentially what MacGPT is. It offers the benefit of displaying an icon on your desktop, but when using the software, I discovered a few peculiarities:

• Everything about ChatGPT Plus is the same as the web-based chatbot, so you can buy it through MacGPT. I initially encountered an error when trying to visit the link. This might mean that MacGPT experiences the same throttling problems as ChatGPT, which is a free app. However, when I tried again a little while later, I was directed to the checkout page.
• If you already have ChatGPT Plus, you can input your confirmation code into the Plus section located in the top-right corner of the browser.
• MacGPT features a Dark mode similar to the web-based ChatGPT.
• The only thing that appears nonfunctional on the MacGPT interface is the Updates & FAQ link.
• When opening MacGPT, you might occasionally get a CAPTCHA notification asking you to confirm that you’re human.

Other than that, MacGPT is merely a straightforward method of accessing ChatGPT without using your browser. Thankfully, OpenAI’s technology is being used in some other fascinating ways on different platforms. For instance, Slack just added a ChatGPT bot to its service, while Snapchat recently revealed its My AI feature inside the app.