Apple announced iOS 18 at its WWDC developers conference on June 10. One of the biggest software updates we've ever seen, iOS 18 brings some incredible new features and more customization options to the iPhone than ever before. The biggest addition is Apple Intelligence – Apple's set of AI features, but iOS 18 also gives you built-in access to ChatGPT.
Though it turns out that ChatGPT might not be as secure as you'd think. OpenAI has a controversial history with data privacy, notably leading to a temporary ban in Italy due to data protection issues.
Recent security flaws, like the macOS ChatGPT app potentially accessing users' screens and plain text chats being easily accessible, have added to these worries. One security researcher even described GPT-4o as "a data hoover on steroids" when talking to Wired.
Despite updates to address these issues, GPT-4o's privacy practices remain a concern. The privacy policy indicates extensive data collection, including personal details and usage data, which can be shared with third parties. To mitigate privacy risks, OpenAI offers controls to opt out of model training and use temporary chat modes, though these limit functionality. But surprisingly, it turns out that iOS 18 may become the most secure way to use ChatGPT.
How iOS 18 could make using ChatGPT more secure
In iOS 18, ChatGPT is also being integrated into iPhone, as well as iPad and Mac, with writing tools, image and document queries, and more. With iOS 18, users can ask Siri questions and get answers from ChatGPT with the newer GPT-4o model. ChatGPT can also access Apple's systemwide Writing Tools, helping users generate written content, as well as images in a variety of styles.
So how exactly is iOS 18 a more secure way of using ChatGPT? While Apple has been pretty light on details about the integration, they have shared some important bits of information around user privacy.
First and foremost, you won't need to create a ChatGPT account to use the iOS 18 integration. You will be able to link your account (if you have one) to access subscription-only features, but this isn't a necessity. Which immediately gives OpenAI less data on you, and fewer ways to tie any data collected back to you.
Additionally, only individual queries will be sent to ChatGPT. That restricts the amount of data sent for each request, with your earlier and later conversation remaining on-device with Siri. You'll also have to give explicit permission before any request is sent to ChatGPT.
While iOS 18.1 just started rolling out to developers with its first beta with a slate of Apple Intelligence features, the ChatGPT integration is not yet live.
