Apple Shortcuts and ChatGPT for Mac

May 24, 2024

3 min read

OpenAI recently launched their official ChatGPT app for the Mac (before Windows). The macOS app brings most of the functionality from the iPhone version to the desktop — no web browser needed.

Option + Space

Hands-down, the best function of the Mac app is instant ChatGPT access from anywhere with a simple keyboard shortcut. Option + Space is the default, or you can assign your own. Before ChatGPT came to the Mac, I kept a Safari tab pinned to OpenAI’s website. Since I spend the majority of my work week on the Mac, my ChatGPT usage has skyrocketed beyond a few times a day to dozens of instances throughout the day.

Shortcuts

Anyway, today I realized that the same Shortcuts supported by ChatGPT on iOS also work with ChatGPT on macOS! In my case, they synced over and just worked. You can also set them up from Shortcuts on the Mac. (Create a new shortcut, select ChatGPT from apps, and add which action you’d like to assign.)

ChatGPT offers two shortcuts: Ask ChatGPT, and Start voice conversation with ChatGPT.

Using the iPhone, I’ve used Ask ChatGPT as a lock screen launcher and occasionally assigned Start voice conversation with ChatGPT to the Action button on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. (I primarily use the Action button to launch Camera. It can get awkward when I forget I changed it, go to take a photo, and ChatGPT opens a voice conversation…)

ChatGPT voice

The system-wide keyboard shortcut fulfills my need for Ask ChatGPT. I’m sure more savvy Shortcuts users could cook up some useful versions of it. It’s the Start voice conversation with ChatGPT action that I think has potential on the Mac.

The only tweak I needed for the Mac is to include it in the menu bar folder and assign Control + Space as the keyboard shortcut to run the action. You can also add an icon to the Dock for initiating a voice conversation. The shortcut even works when the ChatGPT Mac app is closed.

Assistant to the voice assistant

People have already been using ChatGPT voice on iOS to create a generative AI version of Siri. Having this same capability on the Mac enhances voice assistant features on the desktop too. I’ll have to spend more time with it before I determine whether or not actually using ChatGPT voice on the Mac is a good fit, but I think it has potential.

Of course, Siri itself will hopefully learn a thing or two with OpenAI’s help in iOS 18 and macOS 15. We’ll find out for sure on June 10 when Apple unveils its upcoming software improvements.

Oh, and lastly, there’s another way to use ChatGPT and Shortcuts. It turns out ChatGPT is pretty good at giving you step-by-step instructions for how to make a shortcut based on what you’re trying to do. Now imagine a world where Siri and the Shortcuts app itself uses generative AI to integrate that sort of feature directly and with more system access.

Note that OpenAI is still in the process of rolling out its Mac app to all users.