ChatGPT's AI helper can now text you first on iPhone and Android

ChatGPT's AI helper, called Dot, can now send you a text before you ask. OpenAI announced on October 28 that Dot works through iMessage on iPhone and through RCS in Google Messages on Android. It is open only to ChatGPT Pro subscribers in the United States, and it is still a beta preview.

What changed

Dot is an AI agent OpenAI introduced in late September 2026. It takes on ongoing tasks in the background and remembers your past ChatGPT conversations. Until now, you reached it through the ChatGPT app, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Now you can use a normal text thread, and your connected apps, task history and saved preferences carry over.

The key change is that Dot can start the conversation. Ask it to watch a deadline, a price drop or a developing situation, and it texts you when it has news. The thread handles text, photos and voice memos.

How to set it up

• Open Dot's profile in the ChatGPT app.
• Choose Texting and link your phone number.
• On iPhone, iMessage must already be turned on.
• On Android, RCS must be active in Google Messages.

For anything that needs your approval, Dot texts a link so you can review and confirm inside the ChatGPT app. OpenAI says the channel is a one-to-one link between you and your Dot. It does not give Dot access to your other messages.

The catch on iPhone

Apple has no official iMessage tool for outside developers. Dot's iPhone texts run through Linq, an Alabama startup that makes messages show up as blue bubbles. Apple has not authorized that route. In December 2023, Apple blocked Beeper Mini, a service that used similar methods. If Apple acts again, Dot's iMessage link could stop working.

The Android side is different. RCS is an open standard run by carriers, so it does not carry the same risk of being cut off.

Privacy and safety

Linq says even it cannot read message contents. No independent security audit has verified that claim. Messages sent through Linq also sit outside Apple's own encryption protections. The report also flags prompt injection, a trick where outside content tries to slip harmful instructions to an AI agent, as a bigger concern for agents that take in outside messages.

What to do

If you pay for Pro and want Dot's updates by text, the setup takes a few steps. Treat the iPhone version as something that may not last, and keep sensitive tasks inside the ChatGPT app. The material does not say what Pro costs or when the feature will reach more people.