Tutorials · Never used the app

ChatGPT App

The desktop app for Mac and Windows, which does things the browser tab cannot. Numbered, in order, and tested on a real install rather than written from the release notes.

Start here, in order· 7 lessons, about 39 min total
  1. 1

    1. Install It and the Shortcut That Makes It Worth Having

    The app is 154MB and needs macOS 14. Almost all of its value is one keyboard shortcut, and there are two of them, not the one everybody writes about.

    5 min
  2. 2

    2. What You Are Actually Granting It

    Twelve permission prompts, not three. And we checked the signature: the app is not sandboxed, which means those prompts are not the boundary they look like.

    5 min
  3. 3

    3. Pointing It at What Is on Your Screen

    Screenshots send pixels. Work with Apps sends the actual text out of your terminal or editor. The difference matters most exactly when you need it most.

    4 min
  4. 4

    4. Talking to It Instead of Typing

    Two voice features that look the same. One is metered against a rolling five hour allowance and one is free. Most people run out using the wrong one.

    5 min
  5. 5

    5. Giving It Your Files

    512MB per file, 2 million tokens per document, and 3 uploads a day on the free plan. The limit that actually bites is not the one you would guess.

    5 min
  6. 6

    6. Making It Stop Asking Who You Are

    Five separate mechanisms get confused as one. The important split: Custom Instructions are what you told it. Memory is what it inferred, and you approved none of it.

    4 min
  7. 7

    7. Picking a Model, and Knowing When It Searched

    The names change every few months. The two shapes behind them do not, and telling a live search from a confident recollection is the more useful skill.

    4 min