OpenAI’s latest macOS update adds a new Computer History feature that records user activity via accessible events, aiming to improve ChatGPT’s ability to recover context and streamline workflows, all while maintaining user privacy through local storage and opt-in controls.
OpenAI has added a new macOS feature called Computer History to ChatGPT, giving the desktop app a searchable record of recent activity across selected apps and websites. The company is effectively offering its own answer to Microsoft’s Windows Recall, but with a different technical approach: instead of taking repeated screenshots, the macOS version uses accessibility events such as clicks, typed text, keyboard shortcuts and app switches to build a text-based memory of what the user has done.
That design is intended to keep the data more limited. According to the reports, the system does not capture images, video or audio, and it stores activity locally before turning it into a short-lived session that ChatGPT can consult later. The feature is meant to help the assistant recover context, answer questions about a task already underway, or pick up a file or workflow that was left unfinished.
Computer History is turned off by default. OpenAI says Pro users can enable it in settings, while Business and Enterprise accounts need an administrator to approve access first. A menu bar control on macOS lets users pause collection, exclude specific applications or sites, or delete entries, and private browsing tabs are ignored automatically. The feature is not yet available in the European Union, the United Kingdom or Switzerland.
OpenAI is also widening ChatGPT’s reach inside macOS more generally. Its help material says the app can work directly with coding tools, terminals and Notes, and the latest desktop release notes show that the Mac client has been receiving steady updates through 2025 and 2026, including code editing and task support. At the same time, security specialists have reminded users that the broader macOS ChatGPT ecosystem has recently faced supply-chain concerns, underlining why OpenAI is presenting the new memory system as opt-in and local-first rather than a full-screen recording tool.
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