Interactive explainer
OpenAI's ChatGPT desktop shake-up, decoded
Three app names, two modes, one confusing announcement. Click through the three steps below to see what got renamed, what lives inside the new app, and which one you should actually run.
The headache starts with names being shuffled. Two apps you already knew got new labels. Here is the before and after.
ChatGPT
the original desktop app
The familiar, native Mac-style ChatGPT app you have been using for everyday chat.
ChatGPT Classic
same app, new name
Nothing about it changed except the label. It still looks the most “native Mac” of the bunch.
Codex
the coding app
OpenAI's separate developer-focused app for coding and technical work.
ChatGPT
the new desktop app
Codex is now the ChatGPT desktop app. It still looks like Codex (and you can keep the Codex icon), but it is now simply called ChatGPT.
The confusing bit: the name “ChatGPT” now points at what used to be Codex, while the old ChatGPT app has been pushed aside as “Classic”.
The new ChatGPT desktop app is not one experience; it is one app with two modes that share the same plug-ins. Toggle between them to see how each mode treats the same task.
ChatGPT for desktop
one app · two modes · shared plug-ins
For everyday users
Work mode abstracts the details away
- Hides the technical machinery and shows you clean results.
- Built for writing, research, and day-to-day tasks.
- You ask; it just gives you the answer.
Same engine, two personalities: Work keeps things simple; Codex pops the hood and shows the technical steps.
You can keep all three installed (Classic, the new ChatGPT, and Codex), but OpenAI's steer is to just run the new ChatGPT app. Pick what fits you.
What best describes you?
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