ChatGPT launches its App Store: how it works and what we can do with it

OpenAI has just taken, with little fanfare, a huge step forward in the evolution of ChatGPT. With the introduction of its new app directory integrated into ChatGPT, we can now discover, install, and use tools that expand the assistant’s capabilities directly from its interface. This new feature arrives alongside the opening of its SDK for developers, which means that soon we’ll see many more apps created specifically for the chatbot.

For a few weeks now, Sam Altman had already given us some hints that the company wanted to build “all the features we would expect from a complete platform.” The arrival of the App Store confirms that ChatGPT goes far beyond generating text or images; it now allows us to interact with our applications without leaving the conversation.

An app directory directly inside ChatGPT

Until recently, ChatGPT offered us the so-called connectors, which allowed us to access external services like Google Drive or Dropbox. Now, OpenAI has renamed these integrations as apps within ChatGPT, and has created a directory we can access from the tools menu or directly at chatgpt.com/apps.

Here, we can search for specific apps or browse the featured ones, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Adobe Photoshop, Zillow, Canva, or DoorDash. For example, with the Spotify app we can ask ChatGPT to create new playlists for us and discover music without leaving the chat, while DoorDash turns recipes or shopping lists we give the AI into orders ready to be placed.

As if that weren’t enough, we can activate these apps right in the middle of a conversation, either by mentioning them with “@name” or selecting them from the tools menu.

Along the same lines, OpenAI has started to show contextual suggestions for certain apps based on what we’re talking about. Everything is designed so these features integrate naturally, without interrupting the conversation, but rather enriching it.

How they work and what possibilities they offer us

The way these apps work is truly simple. Once we connect an app, ChatGPT informs us of what kind of information can be shared with that service (even more so if we want to log in to the service) and shows us its privacy policy. At any time we can disconnect it, of course, which immediately cuts off access to any data.

For developers, the Apps SDK—which is already in beta—opens the door to creating apps that are completely native to ChatGPT. The best apps, according to OpenAI, are clear, intuitive, and solve specific needs directly in the chat, without forcing us to jump between different tools. This means that, as users, we’ll soon be able to organize trips, prepare presentations, or manage our daily tasks without leaving our conversation with ChatGPT.

With this move, OpenAI turns ChatGPT into a complete platform that transforms ideas and conversations into actions. A small change? Maybe, since it hasn’t made much noise in the tech world, but it’s a change that makes a huge difference. A huge difference both when it comes to using the chat—where we gain endless new possibilities—and when it comes to using certain apps, where sooner rather than later we may prefer the simplicity of a command or request over having to navigate an interface.

A new way to communicate with technology: with ChatGPT’s App Store we’re looking at an assistant that stops being just a generator of text or images and becomes an interactive operations hub, capable of connecting to our services and apps in the most natural and fluid way.