OpenAI now lets ChatGPT Pro users in the US text their dot, ChatGPT’s always-on agent, over iMessage on iPhone or RCS on Android. The dot can also text you first with updates on tasks you hand it. The feature arrived on October 28 as a limited preview. OpenAI’s own help page warns users to take care with sensitive information sent by text.
How texting your ChatGPT dot works over iMessage and RCS
OpenAI announced the feature from its official ChatGPT account on X. You can give your dot a task by text, photo or voice note. It then texts you on its own when it has relevant updates. OpenAI says only you can text your dot, and your dot can only text you.
OpenAI names RCS rather than a specific Android app. RCS is the messaging standard Google Messages uses on most Android phones. The dot keeps the same context and plugins whether you reach it in the app or by text.
In a follow-up post, OpenAI addressed the obvious worry about the rest of your inbox:
This doesn’t give your dot or OpenAI access to your other text conversations.
That is a useful contrast with ChatGPT’s Mac plugin for Messages, which does read your iMessage, SMS and RCS threads.
What a dot is, and who gets texting
OpenAI’s help page describes a dot as an always-on agent inside ChatGPT. Each one gets its own cloud computer and keeps working between your conversations. It draws on ChatGPT memory and on any apps you connect to it. Dots are not supported on mobile web, but you can talk to yours in the ChatGPT app for iOS or Android.
Dots themselves are rolling out to Pro users aged 18 and over, outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Business Premium users are getting them too. The Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare beta is off by default.
Texting is narrower. The help page limits that beta to Pro users in the US and excludes Business and Enterprise workspaces. Even then, OpenAI says access is limited and may not reach every Pro user.
Setting it up: two different instructions
OpenAI’s announcement and its help page describe setup differently. The X post says to tap your dot’s profile and select Texting. The help page says to connect your phone from the ChatGPT desktop app and follow the setup prompts. It lists texting next to Slack as a messaging channel you connect from desktop.
If Texting doesn’t appear under the dot’s profile, the desktop route is the one the help page documents. Replying STOP ends outgoing texts from the dot. Message and data rates may apply. At launch, the dot cannot call you.
The privacy fine print
OpenAI describes the texting as safe and secure. Its own help page adds the caveats. Texting runs through a third-party provider, which neither the help page nor the announcement names. The page also calls the feature a limited beta and tells users to take care when sharing sensitive information by text.
The memory side matters too. Connected apps let the dot review their data proactively and form memories from it. Disconnecting an app does not delete what the dot has already taken from it. The only way to clear that is to reset the dot, which deletes it.
For now, this is a paid, US-only preview. Before texting your dot anything personal, check what you’ve connected and remember that an outside company carries those messages. If you’ve linked Apple services as well, read our note on ChatGPT’s iCloud Mail and Calendar access first.
Source: OpenAI on X, OpenAI on X (follow-up), OpenAI Help Center
