You can use ChatGPT on iPhones directly from your web browser. For convenience, the site can also be pinned to the desktop, but unfortunately, it does not work in PWA (Progressive Web App) mode. This means that when you click the icon, it has a view that resembles a native app. This is just a shortcut that opens the OpenAI page in Safari, which unfortunately does not work perfectly.

If someone wanted to use GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models within the application, they could do so, but it required downloading one of the third-party applications and a number of other actions, including generating an API Key. In addition, there are recurring fees, the amount of which depends on the chosen language model and how often the service is used and how complicated the orders are given.

The official ChatGPT application is now available.

OpenAI has finally decided to prepare a program to support its artificial intelligence. If it’s not available to you then to download ChatGPT to your iPhone, you need to set up an Apple ID for another region, such as the US, and sign in to that region in the App Store. Then you can easily use your account. The program works as one would expect.

It is not an ordinary overlay for a website, but it is native. After launching it, we immediately see a field for entering text, which can also be entered by voice using Whisper, another OpenAI service. It’s just a shame that all the content appears only after the recording is finished, and not as we speak. On the plus side, it comes with a statement in which we mix languages.

After sending a query, we see live response generation. Unfortunately, the phone at this time vibrates every now and then, which may have seemed like a nice effect on paper, but in practice, it is a bit irritating (fortunately, it can be turned off in the options). Clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right corner allows you to go to the conversation history and user account settings and start a new chat without deleting the previous one.

History of conversations with ChatGPT in the OpenAI application.

You can view your ChatGPT conversation history by swiping your finger from the left edge of the screen in the conversation view. However, it is not displayed in the form of a panel with threads as in instant messengers. For some reason, the developers decided that a list that slides out from the bottom and only to the middle of the screen would be better. A strange decision, but it fulfils its task, and there is a search engine here.

What is important, is that we are dealing with an official app from OpenAI, not a program using API Key, we log in here to our account, and the conversation history is synchronized between the program and the website. In addition, the subscription purchased through the website can be used on the iPhone, and the subscription purchased from the iPhone should also be available on the ChatGPT website.

And how much does ChatGPT cost in the official OpenAI app for iPhone and what about Android?

The basic version of ChatGPT using the GPT-3.5 language model is available free of charge. Access to GPT-4 and “experimental features” requires a ChatGPT+ subscription, which is priced at $20 per month when purchased directly from OpenAI. If we decide to pay for a subscription using Apple ID, we will pay a cent less for it, or $ 19.99. In this case, of course, Apple will charge its commission, so the creators will get less money.

ChatGPT in the form of an application went first to iPhones, but the creators of OpenAI announced that work on the program in the version for the Google operating system continues. Android users will have to wait patiently, as well… residents of other countries, regardless of their operating system. The app is only available to start in the U.S. App Store, and other regions will be unlocked “in the coming weeks.”

The appearance of the ChatGPT application in the first place is a pleasant surprise.

As soon as there was a buzz about artificial intelligence and large language models, news broke that Apple was throwing programs from the App Store to support them and treating them in a similar way as game streaming apps. There was concern that Tim Cook and the company could be working on their own artificial intelligence and thus trying to nip their (future) competition in the bud, and ChatGPT will only be available in Safari.

It turns out that in reality, it is not as bad as feared. Apple actually removed applications, but those that pretended to be an official and non-existent (until now) program from OpenAI. In the iPhone app store, you can already find a lot of programs that allow you to talk to artificial intelligence, including the use of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models. I myself use a charming program called Petey, which also went to iPhones with Apple Watches.

And is it worth installing the official ChatGPT application at all?

If you have used the service through the website so far – sure! The native ChatGPT app from the App Store is more convenient than the website in Safari, and you can use it for voice input that can potentially perform better than the system’s voice recognition on the iPhone keyboard. The only change I would expect is a reorganization of chat history to make the program more like a messenger.