How to Download The New ChatGPT Desktop App (even if you're not invited to the beta)

Here's a method that worked for me.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

A few days ago, OpenAI introduced GPT-4o to the world, but there were some other announcements that were overlooked.

One of them was the new desktop app for macOS that both free and paid users can download. That said, at the moment only selected users can download and have access to the desktop app.

I didn’t have the privilege to be one of them, but I found a way that worked for me and hopefully will work for you by the time you’re reading this. In this quick guide, I’ll show you the steps to download the ChatGPT desktop app and why you should use it instead of the web app.

Disclaimer: I found the method I’m about to show you on the OpenAI community page. That said, it’s not an official method, so do it at your own risk (or wait until you’re invited)

How to download the ChatGPT Desktop app?

Right now, there’s only one official way to get the ChatGPT desktop app. If you’re a lucky ChatGPT user, the next time you log into ChatGPT, you’ll see a pop-up with an invitation to try the desktop app.

If you see the pop-up below, you can go ahead and download the app. Just make sure you have macOS14+ and Apple Silicon (M1, M2, or M3) otherwise you won’t be able to install the app.

Screenshot

I wasn’t one of the lucky ones to get access to the app, so I checked out the OpenAI community page and found the dmg file to install the app. On the page, you’ll see the link below to download the desktop app (in green).

OpenAI community page

Apparently, oaistatic is an official OpenAI domain, so the link should be reliable (but, again, do it at your own risk).

How to bypass “You don’t have access to the desktop app yet” message

Even if you download the dmg file and install it, you might see the message below when logging in.

I found a way to bypass this. What you have to do is quit (Cmd + Q) the ChatGPT app immediately after introducing your email/password (when you see the loading icon)

In the example above I quit the ChatGPT app after I passed the email verification, but the process is the same if you log in with Google.

After quitting the ChatGPT app, press Cmd + space, and type ChatGPT to open the app. You should see the app working just fine.

Now let’s see what you can do with the desktop app.

Note: Even if you quit the app, the next time you open it, you’ll still be logged in. That said, if you log out, you’ll have to follow the same steps again.

Why use the desktop app (instead of the web app)

There are some advantages of using the ChatGPT desktop app over the web app. Here are some of them.

It has cool shortcuts

The macOS app is designed to integrate seamlessly into anything you’re doing on your computer. You only need to press Option + Space to open the “launcher”, which allows you to ask ChatGPT anything, no matter what you’re doing. You can upload files, take a screenshot, or take a photo.

You can even take screenshots and discuss them directly in the desktop app.

It has the voice feature

Another cool feature that you can find in the desktop app is Voice. This is similar to what we can find on the phone app and we can use it to learn new subjects, simulate an interview, practice a foreign language, etc.

Screenshot

OpenAI says that there’s a new Voice Mode with new GPT-4o capabilities coming within ChatGPT Plus in the coming weeks, so probably soon we’ll be able to do the cool things we’ve seen in the demo of GPT-4o (to see the demos click here)

That’s it for now! If you’d like to unlock ChatGPT’s full potential read this article I wrote.