OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT for iOS, bringing the official AI chatbot to Apple’s flagship devices. However, it’s only available to users in the United States.
If you want to try out the native ChatGPT iOS app from anywhere in the world, here’s how to do it:
- Get a NordVPN subscription. We recommend NordVPN for ChatGPT as it’s stable and fast.
- Download the app. You can download the NordVPN app on your iPhone.
- Connect to a US server. NordVPN has 1,970+ servers across the US, so you have lots of options!
- Change your App Store location. You need to switch your location to the US.
- Download the app. Click here to download the official ChatGPT iOS app.
NordVPN will let you use ChatGPT on your iOS device without any issues (tested!). Plus, you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can always request a refund in case you aren’t satisfied.
Would you like more information about ChatGPT’s iOS app and its restrictions? Read more below.
OpenAI just released the official ChatGPT iOS app, but it’s only available to users in the USA. In an official announcement earlier today, the company released its iOS app, making it much easier for users to easily download the official version.
Since ChatGPT’s official release, the App Store has been inundated with a host of unofficial apps and services, many of which just steal your data. The official ChatGPT app from iOS will not feature any ads, be completely free to use, and will also support voice input.
At launch, the app is only available to users in the USA. However, you can access the app from anywhere in the world with a VPN. We tested it thoroughly, and can report that the ChatGPT iOS app works with a reliable VPN like NordVPN.
If you’re based outside the USA and would like to access the ChatGPT iOS app, all you need to do is to connect to a VPN server in the USA, change your App Store location, download the app, and start using it.
Just like its desktop variant, the ChatGPT iOS app will allow users to use the GPT 3.5 training model (free users) to ask questions instead of running a traditional search online on Google. You can use it for a variety of purposes, ranging from general questions to more specific, tailored requests.
iOS users traditionally prefer using Siri for general answers. However, Siri pulls data from the web, whereas ChatGPT pulls answers from the vast corpus of text that it’s been trained on. ChatGPT is available globally, with only a handful of countries still blocking it, though you can overcome restrictions with the best ChatGPT VPNs.
Right now, if you try to access ChatGPT from outside the USA, it will give you the following error: “This app is currently not available in your country or region” as shown below:
However, once you connect with a VPN and change your App Store location, you can access the ChatGPT iOS app. I tested it, and here are the steps I used to change my location:
- Change your VPN region to New York.
- Now, change the system region and the time to New York.
- Go into App Store settings and change the location to NY.
- You can use a random street address for verification.
- You’ll be asked for a phone number. You can use any random phone number generator to come up with a US phone number.
- Restart your phone afterwards.
- Now, you’ll be able to access the US version of the App Store and will be able to download the ChatGPT app.
We think that this launch could further spur Google to release its own AI chatbot, Bard, for mobile. While it’s only available in a few countries, you can access Google Bard from anywhere, though only on desktop.
Considering how Apple doesn’t currently offer an AI chatbot and Google has a lot of catching up to do, we think that the ChatGPT iOS app is going to be downloaded by millions in a very short span of time. What’s more, it syncs data across your other devices, so all your prompts will show up on the web app too.
If you’re a paid subscriber, you can access the GPT-4 model, which unlocks more capabilities and offers more targeted responses. The iOS version of ChatGPT is also integrated with OpenAI’s Whisper speech recognition system, so you can send prompts via voice.
In the official announcement, OpenAI also announced that they’re going to expand to other countries in the “coming weeks,” and they’re also testing the Android version, which is expected to be released soon after.
It’s Completely Ad-Free
During its official announcement, OpenAI did point out that the iOS client will be completely free to use, and entirely ad-free. This is likely to increase uptake, allowing people to search for queries without having to worry about ads.
This is in stark contrast to Bing Chat, which is already showing ads to users. If you want to access the ChatGPT iOS app from your phone, you can access it through its App Store listing.
What Data Does the App Collect?
While ChatGPT relies on its vast training data, it does collect user data to further refine responses. In the official App Store description, it’s mentioned that the app collects:
- User content
- Usage data
- Contact information
- Diagnostics information
- Identifiers (unique IDs, email addresses, device IDs, etc.)
The AI Race is Heating Up
OpenAI is definitely the trailblazer in this space, but other companies, like Google, are catching up. Apple has historically been late to adopt new technologies, though it often releases something that’s a bit more refined, albeit quite late.
Given OpenAI’s announcement, we expect the company will soon follow with an Android app release, and then continue to expand to other markets across the globe.
