OpenAI Adds Opt-In Computer History for ChatGPT and Codex on macOS
The timeline records selected interaction events rather than screenshots or audio, while access, administrator approval and regional exclusions limit the initial rollout.
OpenAI introduced Computer History for its macOS app on August 13, giving eligible ChatGPT and Codex users an optional timeline of selected activity from applications and websites. The feature is intended to help people continue work without explaining the same recent context again, but it begins with explicit limits on what is recorded, who can enable it and where it is available.
The change matters because desktop agents become more useful when they can recover the thread of a task across tools. It also creates a new context boundary that users and administrators need to understand before enabling it. OpenAI says Computer History is off by default rather than automatically collecting activity for every eligible account.
Interaction events, not a screen recording
OpenAI describes Computer History as a record of interaction events. The company says it does not capture screenshots, screen recordings, microphone input or system audio. Private browsing activity is excluded.
That design is narrower than continuous visual or audio surveillance of a desktop. It still produces a history that can reveal how someone moved through selected applications and websites, so the distinction does not remove the need for deliberate scope. The useful question is not only whether pixels are stored, but which events are selected, how much work context they reveal and when an assistant is allowed to reference them.
The release note says both ChatGPT and Codex can use selected history. That creates a bridge between conversational work and software-development tasks: a user can resume from relevant recent activity without manually restating each prior step. The evidence does not claim that every event is captured or that the system understands all application state.
Users choose scope and can remove timeline items
Eligible users can pause Computer History, choose which applications and websites are included, inspect timeline items and delete them. Those controls make the timeline visible and reversible at the product level. They also give teams a practical setup sequence: begin with a narrow set of applications, review the captured events, and expand only when the saved context is useful and appropriate.
For Business and Enterprise workspaces, administrators must grant access before a member can opt in. That separates workspace permission from individual activation. An administrator can withhold the capability, while an allowed user still decides whether to turn it on.
Computer History is initially available to Pro, Business and Enterprise users. OpenAI says it is not currently available in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland. The announcement does not give a date for adding those regions or expanding the eligible plan list.
What remains unverified
The fetched release note establishes the visible product boundaries, but it is not an independent privacy or security evaluation. It does not provide a detailed retention schedule, a complete technical data-flow description, error measurements for activity selection or evidence about how often irrelevant or sensitive events enter the timeline.
Organizations evaluating the feature should therefore test the actual timeline against their own information-handling rules. Sensitive repositories, customer systems, health information, financial work and privileged administrative tools may require tighter exclusions than ordinary productivity applications. A useful continuity feature can still expose more context than a specific task needs if its scope is too broad.
The next verifiable checkpoint is documentation that explains storage, retention and policy enforcement in more technical detail, followed by independent testing of whether pause, exclusion and deletion controls behave consistently across supported macOS workflows.
Status
Confirmed. OpenAI's official release notes support the opt-in macOS feature, its event-level recording boundary, eligible plans, controls and regional exclusions. Internal confidence is medium because no independent implementation evidence was fetched.
Sources
Update note: Last reviewed 2026-08-17. We will revise this post if OpenAI expands access or publishes material technical detail about retention, storage and policy enforcement.
Sources
- OpenAI — ChatGPT release notes — official
Drafted with AI assistance from source briefs; reviewed for citation completeness and label accuracy.