Learn how to set up the official ChatGPT iPhone app, configure settings such as haptic feedback, upgrade to the latest language model with more perks, etc.
Through a simple web client, the official ChatGPT app is easier to use, more responsive and battery-friendlier. The native app brings extra perks, like haptic feedback, and lets you subscribe to ChatGPT via the In-App Purchase feature.
How to download ChatGPT for iPhone
The safest way to download the official ChatGPT app is from the Apple App Store:
The app is free to download and use. To upgrade to the latest GPT-4 model, hit the Get Plus button at the top.
Key features
The announcement on the OpenAI website lists these key features:
- Answers: Get precise information without sifting through ads or multiple results.
- Advice: Seek guidance on cooking, travel plans, or crafting thoughtful messages.
- Inspiration: Generate gift ideas, outline presentations, or write the perfect poem.
- Pro input: Boost productivity with idea feedback, note summarization, and technical topic assistance.
- Learning: Explore new languages, modern history, and more at your own pace.
Signing up for ChatGPT
You don’t need an OpenAI account to use the ChatGPT app, but you’ll need one to access all features and receive personalized answers. The signup page offers simplified account creation with Apple, Google, or Microsoft social singups. Signing up with an Apple account is the best choice because you can use Apple’s excellent Hide My Email option to keep your personal email address private.
How to use ChatGPT for iPhone
If you’ve used ChatGPT before, you’ll feel right at home. The input box at the bottom lets you write your prompt. For example, ask ChatGPT to write an essay on a topic or summarize something. You can also speak your query via voice input powered by OpenAI’s speech recognition model, called Whisper.
With your prompt sent, ChatGPT will spew the response you can scroll through and ask follow-up questions. Depending on server load and question complexity, you may need to wait a bit before ChatGPT responds (even faster response times are available to ChatGPT subscribers).
Adjusting settings
To access settings, tap the menu button in the top-left corner and hit the three-dotted button next to your account name. The settings interface offers options like disabling vibrations under Haptic Feedback, changing app language, adjusting Dark Mode, and so on. To export your interactions with the chatbot as a downloadable ZIP file, touch Data Controls and choose Export Data.
Turning ChatGPT history off
OpenAI lets you switch off ChatGPT history if you’d like to make your conversations with the chatbot private. You may want to do this to stop OpenAI from using any future chats to train its AI models. However, the company can still use any conversations from before you switched off history for AI training.
Choose Data Controls in the ChatGPT settings and turn off the switch for Improve the model for everyone and Include your audio recordings. You can also choose to Delete All Chats from here.
This will stop your chatbot interactions from being saved. OpenAI will still keep new chats on its servers for up to 30 days to “monitor for abuse” before permanently deleting them. This setting doesn’t apply to chats conducted before you’ve turned on this setting—OpenAI will still use those for model training.
What does ChatGPT Plus offer? How to subscribe?
ChatGPT lets you use OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini model for free, but the latest one requires a ChatGPT Plus subscription at $20/month (there is also a $200/month plan for pro users). The paid service brings other perks like guaranteed uptime during heavy loads, faster response speeds, and previews of upcoming new features.
What about privacy and AI hallucinations?
The ChatGPT app suffers from the same shortcomings as the web-based service, including AI hallucinations and the tendency to fabricate information. Truth be told, OpenAI does warn you about this during regular usage of the app. Regarding privacy, ChatGPT’s App Store page says the app collects some data to improve service, including your contact information, interactions, identifiers, and diagnostics data.
Bonus tip: Use ChatGPT on iPhone without the app
ChatGPT is also integrated with Apple Intelligence, which enables you to use ChatGPT within Siri for complex queries. You can even ask Siri to take a screenshot of your iPhone’s screen and have ChatGPT contextualize it for you.
iPhone 16 owners can also click and hold the Camera Control to launch the Visual Intelligence feature, then point the camera at an object and hit the Ask button to have ChatGPT explain what’s on the image. From there, you can continue the conversation if you need more information about the image.
On a related note: List of all Apple Intelligence features on iPhone and what they do