OpenAI has begun accepting submissions from third-party builders for his or her apps to be accessible instantly in ChatGPT, and has launched a brand new App Directory (don't name it a "retailer"!) that may be opened from the ChatGPT sidebar and on the URL chatgpt.com/apps.

This implies the 800 million+ users of OpenAI's hit chatbot can seek for, uncover and start utilizing newly authorised third-party apps instantly. As soon as put in, apps could be triggered throughout conversations by mentioning them by title (utilizing @) or choosing them from the instruments menu.

The third-party app submission course of formally went dwell final evening, December 17, as OpenAI announced in a blog post and on its developer account on X, although the corporate notes will probably be reviewing all new third-party app submissions earlier than approving them for itemizing within the App Listing, and making them out there to ChatGPT customers, to make sure they adjust to the company's public guidelines. Apps that cross OpenAI’s overview course of will start rolling out to customers beginning early 2026.

For these enterprises who need to get in on the motion with their very own ChatGPT apps, OpenAI mentioned it should host a public webinar “Build Hour” event for third-party developers on January 21, the place OpenAI engineers will stroll by means of easy methods to construct, submit, and design apps for ChatGPT, utilizing real-world examples and taking questions.

App Listing vs. GPT Retailer

This complete effort marks the beginning of a broader developer ecosystem past the small set of curated companions OpenAI launched its Apps standard development kit (SDK) earlier this fall, and appears to be fulfilling a few of the hype that ensued again when OpenAI debuted its "GPT Store" again in early 2024, practically two years in the past.

Nonetheless, regardless of the pledge of income sharing that OpenAI made again then, it hasn't since supplied many updates on the GPT Retailer, nor have we heard a lot from GPT builders about making substantive income from it.

However whereas these customized, user-generated GPTs have been restricted primarily to text-based experiences, the brand new ChatGPT App Listing and SDK options permit for a much more interactive expertise together with person accessible buttons, maps, multi-views, sliders, shaders, and different interplay modalities. The GPT Retailer additionally nonetheless stays out there now.

Monetization, restrictions, and overview course of

On this early part, ChatGPT apps might hyperlink out to exterior web sites to finish purchases for bodily items solely.

Promoting digital items, subscriptions, or in‑app providers isn't but allowed, although OpenAI says it’s exploring extra monetization choices over time.

All apps should:

• Adjust to OpenAI’s utilization insurance policies

• Be appropriate for basic audiences, together with teenagers

• Embrace a transparent privateness coverage and assist contact

• Keep away from promoting, misleading conduct, or prohibited commerce classes

Builders submit apps by means of the OpenAI Developer Platform, the place they will observe overview standing. Just one model of an app could be beneath overview at a time.

What this implies for builders and customers

OpenAI first introduced the Apps SDK at its DevDay conference in October, positioning it as a strategy to construct “apps inside ChatGPT.” CEO Sam Altman described the imaginative and prescient as enabling “a brand new technology of apps which are interactive, adaptive, and personalised.”

Constructed on the open Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP) developed by rival Anthropic, the Apps SDK lets builders join exterior providers, fetch real-time context, set off actions, and render UI instantly inside ChatGPT.

Till now, ChatGPT apps have been restricted to an inventory of seven pilot companions together with:

1. Reserving.com

2. Canva

3. Coursera

4. Expedia

5. Figma

6. Spotify

7. Zillow

That checklist has since expanded to dozens of recent apps, together with common software program like Adobe PhotoShop (and Acrobat and Specific), Github, Replit, Gmail and Google Drive, Microsoft Groups, Mailchimp, Stripe, and plenty of extra.

And with basic submissions now open, any verified developer—from solo builders to giant enterprises—can construct and submit apps for ChatGPT, supplied they meet OpenAI’s high quality, security, and privateness requirements.

For customers, the change means ChatGPT can now act as a hub for specialised instruments and workflows. Apps can lengthen conversations by pulling in dwell information, rendering interactive interfaces, or taking actions on a person’s behalf—like designing a presentation, trying to find housing, or interacting with an exterior service—with out leaving the chat.

Apps can seem in a number of codecs, together with:

• Inline playing cards or carousels contained in the dialog

• Fullscreen views for immersive duties like maps or slide decks

• Image‑in‑image modes for video, tutorials, or dwell periods

The aim, OpenAI says, is to maintain every little thing feeling conversational whereas including actual utility.

How ChatGPT is dealing with Apps information

One of many largest open questions round ChatGPT apps is how person information is dealt with when third‑occasion apps are concerned. Based mostly on OpenAI’s documentation and pointers, right here’s what is evident—and what stays unanswered.

What OpenAI has said clearly:

• When a person connects to an app, ChatGPT discloses what forms of information could also be shared with the third occasion and surfaces the app’s privateness coverage earlier than connection.

• Third‑occasion builders are liable for how their apps deal with information as soon as acquired.

• Apps should reduce information assortment, requesting solely what is important to carry out a selected job.

• Apps are prohibited from requesting full chat transcripts, broad contextual information “simply in case,” or delicate private information.

• Any motion that sends information exterior ChatGPT or modifies exterior programs should be clearly labeled and require person affirmation.

• Apps should not reconstruct or infer a person’s full chat historical past and should keep away from undisclosed monitoring or profiling.

What OpenAI has not clarified publicly:

• Whether or not OpenAI itself retains or logs the info handed between ChatGPT and third‑occasion apps.

• Whether or not information exchanged with apps can be utilized for mannequin coaching or inner analytics.

• How lengthy, if in any respect, OpenAI shops metadata or interplay traces associated to app utilization.

Because of this, whereas OpenAI emphasizes sturdy guardrails for builders and transparency for customers, it has not explicitly detailed OpenAI’s personal function as an information processor in app interactions. That ambiguity has already drawn scrutiny and stays an open subject because the app ecosystem expands.

The larger image

With app submissions now open and an App Listing dwell, ChatGPT is now not only a conversational AI—it’s turning into a distribution platform for AI‑native software program.

Builders get entry to an enormous constructed‑in viewers, whereas customers acquire instruments that may be found and used in the meanwhile they’re wanted, instantly inside a dialog.

OpenAI describes this as “just the start.” However with the infrastructure now in place, the shift from chatbot to app ecosystem is formally underway.

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