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 Listing (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+ customers of OpenAI's hit chatbot can seek for, uncover and start utilizing newly permitted third-party apps instantly. As soon as put in, apps could be triggered throughout conversations by mentioning them by identify (utilizing @) or deciding on them from the instruments menu.
The third-party app submission course of formally went dwell final evening, December 17, as OpenAI introduced in a weblog put up 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 obtainable to ChatGPT customers, to make sure they adjust to the corporate's public pointers. Apps that cross OpenAI’s evaluate 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 stated it’s going to host a public webinar “Construct Hour” occasion for third-party builders on January 21, the place OpenAI engineers will stroll by way of the right way 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 normal growth equipment (SDK) earlier this fall, and appears to be fulfilling among the hype that ensued again when OpenAI debuted its "GPT Retailer" again in early 2024, practically two years in the past.
Nevertheless, 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 consumer accessible buttons, maps, multi-views, sliders, shaders, and different interplay modalities. The GPT Retailer additionally nonetheless stays obtainable now.
Monetization, restrictions, and evaluate course of
On this early part, ChatGPT apps could 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 further monetization choices over time.
All apps should:
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Adjust to OpenAI’s utilization insurance policies
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Be appropriate for common audiences, together with teenagers
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Embody a transparent privateness coverage and help contact
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Keep away from promoting, misleading conduct, or prohibited commerce classes
Builders submit apps by way of the OpenAI Developer Platform, the place they’ll monitor evaluate standing. Just one model of an app could be underneath evaluate at a time.
What this implies for builders and customers
OpenAI first launched the Apps SDK at its DevDay convention in October, positioning it as a solution 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 customized.”
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 a listing of seven pilot companions together with:
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Reserving.com
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Canva
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Coursera
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Expedia
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Figma
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Spotify
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Zillow
That listing has since expanded to dozens of latest apps, together with standard 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 common 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 prolong conversations by pulling in dwell knowledge, rendering interactive interfaces, or taking actions on a consumer’s behalf—like designing a presentation, looking for housing, or interacting with an exterior service—with out leaving the chat.
Apps can seem in a number of codecs, together with:
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Inline playing cards or carousels contained in the dialog
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Fullscreen views for immersive duties like maps or slide decks
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Image‑in‑image modes for video, tutorials, or dwell periods
The objective, OpenAI says, is to maintain all the pieces feeling conversational whereas including actual utility.
How ChatGPT is dealing with Apps knowledge
One of many greatest open questions round ChatGPT apps is how consumer knowledge is dealt with when third‑occasion apps are concerned. Primarily based on OpenAI’s documentation and pointers, right here’s what is evident—and what stays unanswered.
What OpenAI has acknowledged clearly:
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When a consumer connects to an app, ChatGPT discloses what varieties of knowledge could also be shared with the third occasion and surfaces the app’s privateness coverage earlier than connection.
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Third‑occasion builders are chargeable for how their apps deal with knowledge as soon as acquired.
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Apps should reduce knowledge assortment, requesting solely what is important to carry out a particular activity.
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Apps are prohibited from requesting full chat transcripts, broad contextual knowledge “simply in case,” or delicate private knowledge.
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Any motion that sends knowledge outdoors ChatGPT or modifies exterior techniques should be clearly labeled and require consumer affirmation.
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Apps should not reconstruct or infer a consumer’s full chat historical past and should keep away from undisclosed monitoring or profiling.
What OpenAI has not clarified publicly:
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Whether or not OpenAI itself retains or logs the information handed between ChatGPT and third‑occasion apps.
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Whether or not knowledge exchanged with apps can be utilized for mannequin coaching or inside analytics.
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How lengthy, if in any respect, OpenAI shops metadata or interplay traces associated to app utilization.
In consequence, whereas OpenAI emphasizes robust guardrails for builders and transparency for customers, it has not explicitly detailed OpenAI’s personal position as an information processor in app interactions. That ambiguity has already drawn scrutiny and stays an open difficulty because the app ecosystem expands.
The larger image
With app submissions now open and an App Listing dwell, ChatGPT is not only a conversational AI—it’s changing into a distribution platform for AI‑native software program.
Builders get entry to an enormous constructed‑in viewers, whereas customers achieve instruments that may be found and used in the mean time 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.
