ChatGPT is great for making plans, but more often than not, you still have to juggle multiple apps to get things done. There are ChatGPT tricks that feel too good to be hidden, but OpenAI has just announced a new feature that’s going to change how you use the chatbot.
OpenAI’s flagship chatbot is now getting a much deeper integration with third-party apps. These apps fit naturally into your conversations with the chatbot, respond to natural language, and come with interfaces you can use right in the chat.
Apps now live inside ChatGPT
You can launch and use your favorite tools without ever leaving the chat
OpenAI’s announcement brings a new generation of apps you can chat with, along with tools for developers to build them. Instead of telling you to look for specific music on Spotify or find real estate on Zillow, ChatGPT can now pull these apps directly into the conversations.
For example, if you ask ChatGPT to create a Spotify playlist for a house party, ChatGPT can now pull Spotify right in the chat window with all the music in one place. If you’re planning a trip and ask ChatGPT to find hotels, Expedia or Booking.com opens up in chat and lets you browse your options without ever leaving the ChatGPT app.
At the time of writing, eight major apps are supported, including Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow. More partners, such as Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Target, are expected to join soon. Using these apps isn’t difficult either. When you ask ChatGPT to do a task it has an app for, it suggests you use it. If you click the app button, you’re asked to log in and connect the app to ChatGPT, and that’s it. The app starts appearing within your ChatGPT conversations. If you want to use a specific app, start your prompt by mentioning the name of the app itself.
This could well be the end of app-switching chaos as we know it. So far, ChatGPT could only suggest what actions you can take on specific apps. It can tell you what music you can play, what property prices you can expect, what flights you should book, and so on. Armed with this information, you’d usually have to jump out of the ChatGPT app or browser tab and head over to the respective apps or websites to get the task done.
With this level of app integration, everything now happens in one ChatGPT chat window. It massively shrinks the gap between what the AI suggests and real-world tasks. There are ChatGPT features that make it 10x more useful, but this single feature outshines them all.
This functionality is powered by OpenAI’s new Apps SDK. The SDK is an open standard built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), using which AI apps like ChatGPT can connect to data sources, tools, and workflows to access information and perform tasks.
These aren’t embedded links that take you to an app—these are fully interactive apps that respond to natural language and display rich interface elements like maps, playlists, booking forms, and more.
Another benefit of this new feature is software discovery. Instead of remembering which app does what, ChatGPT now suggests the right app for the task. It’s a personal assistant that automatically picks the best tool for the job and saves you the hassle of comparing apps to figure out which one is the best.
Planning travel? Expedia gets pulled into your chat. Need a presentation? Canva is ready to go at a moment’s notice. As the number of supported apps increases, ChatGPT will have a massive repository of tools it can use for specific tasks, highlighting the app’s strength and saving you time in the process.
Why this changes everything
ChatGPT isn’t just talking anymore—it’s actually doing your tasks.
For starters, this is going to be a massive productivity boost. My usual ChatGPT workflow has the traditional sequence of ChatGPT suggesting something, me researching for accuracy, then switching apps, and finally carrying out the task. Now, everything flows in the same conversations. You can ask ChatGPT to carry out multiple complex tasks and get them done without switching apps or browser tabs.
Businesses would also benefit from this. Instead of training employees on multiple interfaces, entire tasks can now be compressed into individual prompts with a few variables that change as per the situation. It would significantly reduce onboarding time and increase tool usage. With ChatGPT also finding the best tool for the job, the confusion of finding a tool also goes into the bin.
OpenAI has essentially created a new app ecosystem. The Apps SDK gives developers direct access to ChatGPT’s entire user base—a distribution that individual developers or early-stage startups can only dream of. Additionally, while app discovery has been a challenge on traditional app stores, ChatGPT automatically pulls your app when it’s the most relevant. This puts apps that do specific tasks well in front of users who are more likely to use them.
However, these implications can extend well beyond convenience. When AI becomes the interface layer for all software interactions, as OpenAI hopes, it changes how we discover, learn, and use digital tools. It increases dependence on AI tools massively, which may not be the best way to do a job.
If ChatGPT’s app integrations take off, we could be witnessing early stages of what could be a major platform shift. We might move from a more app-centric to conversation-centric workflows where we just tell the AI what to do and it figures out the rest. Needless to say, this comes with some concerns.
Some apps will work better than others, meaning the app discovery feature will quickly get riddled. If two apps do the same task, we’re asking the AI to choose one over the other. This means the developers now have an entirely different set of problems to worry about to ensure their app gets picked by the AI and not actual human beings. ChatGPT can make tough decisions for you, but asking it to pick a specific tool for a job has the potential to change app design in the future.
Then, of course, there are the privacy and security concerns around connecting multiple services through one AI interface. It would mean putting even more of your personal data and app interactions through the chatbot, meaning the company behind the tool can potentially collect a lot more behavioral data and usage patterns on its users.
OpenAI claims that its policies require apps to follow usage policies, be appropriate for all audiences, and include clear privacy policies. The apps should also “collect only the minimum data they need, and be transparent about permissions.” More personalized controls to decide what specific data categories an app can use are coming in the future, but access to data and its collection are bound to go up.
ChatGPT just leveled up
From playlists to presentations, it’s turning into the ultimate sidekick
Not everyone wants to manage their entire digital life through a single conversation window, including me. However, the trajectory is clear. We’re moving towards a world where AI doesn’t just answer your questions, it does your tasks for you, using the same tools you would have. The app integrations suggest a future where switching between apps might be obsolete.
For now, the feature is available to ChatGPT users except those in the EU due to regulatory restrictions. But with more apps and broader availability on the horizon, it’s about time you get ready to change how you use ChatGPT, and how it works for you.
