ChatGPT can remember what you do on your Mac, but not yet in Europe

Monday, 17 August 2026 at 18:55

ChatGPT kan onthouden wat je op je Mac doet, maar Nederland moet wachten

OpenAI has added an optional ChatGPT feature for Mac that can remember your clicks, typed text, and app switches. Called Computer History, it’s designed to help you find past work and automate repetitive tasks. Dutch users, however, can’t turn it on yet.

Computer History rolled out on August 13 in the ChatGPT app for macOS. It’s available to ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users, but it’s off by default. For business accounts, an admin must enable access first. After that, each user still has to switch on Computer History individually.

The key limitation for Dutch users is tucked away in OpenAI’s official documentation: Computer History isn’t available yet in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland. OpenAI hasn’t given a date for when the Netherlands and the rest of the EU will follow.

No screenshots, but it does capture clicks and keystrokes

Computer History creates a stream of “interaction events.” These can include mouse clicks, typed text, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and information from macOS’s accessibility system.

That might sound like screen recording, but OpenAI says no screenshots or video are captured. The microphone and system audio aren’t recorded either. Activity in private browser windows is also excluded.

These events are used to generate text summaries and local memories. A timeline might say you updated a project proposal in the morning, read feedback in Slack, then adjusted a schedule.

ChatGPT and Codex can then use that context to answer questions like:

What was I working on before my break?
Which document had the proposal I looked at this morning?
What tasks did I complete today?
Can you draft a short stand-up summary?

When Computer History detects a recurring pattern, it can suggest turning it into a skill or automation.

You choose which apps and sites are tracked

Computer History only starts collecting after you opt in. In settings, you can allow or exclude apps and websites one by one. You can also pause collection from the macOS menu bar.

You can view and delete timeline items. Options include clearing the last ten minutes, the last hour, the last day, or your entire history.

OpenAI advises turning the feature off when communicating with other people unless they’ve given explicit consent. Apps with medical, financial, or other sensitive data are best excluded.

That warning matters. Even without screenshots, typed text and summaries can contain sensitive details—client names, financial figures, draft contracts, or internal chats.

Memories are stored unencrypted on your Mac

Temporary event files stay on your Mac for up to 48 hours. OpenAI processes these files on its servers to create memories, but says it doesn’t retain the original event files after processing or use them for model training.

The created memories remain on your computer until you delete them. They’re readable Markdown files and aren’t encrypted by Computer History itself. Other programs running under the same macOS account could potentially access them.

If you later use a memory in a regular ChatGPT conversation, your account’s usual data settings apply. That chat’s content may be used to improve models if you’ve enabled that setting in ChatGPT.

Prompt injection risk goes up

OpenAI also warns about prompt injections. A website or document could contain hidden, malicious instructions. When Computer History processes such content, ChatGPT or Codex might treat those instructions as part of the context.

It’s a known issue for AI agents that can read across sources: the more an assistant can see and remember, the more useful it gets—and the larger the attack surface becomes.

Computer History makes OpenAI’s direction clear: ChatGPT shouldn’t just respond to what you paste into a chat box; it should understand what you’re working on throughout the day. For now, Dutch Mac users can’t yet make that trade-off between convenience and privacy themselves.