OpenAI added two plugins to ChatGPT on 27 October that connect it to Apple’s iCloud Mail and iCloud Calendar. You can ask ChatGPT to find an email, catch up on your inbox, check what is next or move an appointment. The plugins work on every ChatGPT plan, Free included, on the web, the desktop app and iPhone, and you connect them with an Apple app-specific password.
One request can search your iCloud inbox and put the result in your calendar
Mail and Calendar are separate plugins, so you connect each one on its own. Both can look up your iCloud contacts, but only to read them. In OpenAI’s demo, ChatGPT found the details of a museum exhibition in an email, checked the calendar and added the visit on a free evening.
OpenAI’s announcement names four tasks: finding an email, catching up on the inbox, checking what is next and updating a calendar event. Cult of Mac reports that the Mail plugin can also draft and send messages. OpenAI’s help page does not list which actions each plugin supports, so try it on something harmless before you rely on it.
The plugins only reach iCloud. A Gmail or Outlook account that you added to the Mail app on your iPhone needs its own connection. OpenAI lists the web, the desktop app and iOS, not Android.
Connecting takes an app-specific password, not your Apple Account password
- In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Plugins, and choose iCloud Mail or iCloud Calendar.
- Create an app-specific password in your Apple Account. This only works when two-factor authentication is on.
- For Mail, enter your address ending in @icloud.com, @me.com or @mac.com. For Calendar, enter your main Apple Account email, which can be a different address.
Apple’s instructions for app-specific passwords explain where to create one and how to revoke it.
An iCloud app password opens mail, contacts and calendars, not just the inbox
An app-specific password is broader than the task you create it for. Apple says an app that holds one can access “mail, contacts, and calendars that you store in iCloud”. You can have up to 25 of these passwords and revoke them one by one. Changing your main Apple Account password revokes all of them at once.
What ChatGPT reads can also end up in OpenAI’s training data. On the Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans, OpenAI may use information that ChatGPT accesses through apps to train its models when the setting “Improve the model for everyone” is on. In Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, OpenAI does not do this by default.
You also decide how much ChatGPT may do without asking. The permission settings range from “Always ask” to “Allow low-risk actions”. Some apps also offer “Allow all actions”, and OpenAI itself warns that this carries elevated risk because actions may then run without another confirmation.
When do the iCloud plugins reach the Netherlands?
OpenAI gives no date per country: it says the plugins are rolling out globally and names no excluded countries, so Dutch and other EU accounts should get them. Its help page adds that app availability depends on region, plan and workspace. If the plugins are not under Settings yet, check again in a few days.
Work mail belongs in a managed ChatGPT workspace, not a personal account
Some freelancers and small firms run their business on an iCloud address, and some employees forward work invites to a private calendar. Once that mailbox is linked to a personal ChatGPT account, client mail flows through an account your organisation does not manage and that no data processing agreement of yours covers. On a consumer plan, that mail may also be used for training.
In ChatGPT Business, the iCloud plugins fall under the workspace app controls. OpenAI says many apps are enabled by default in Business, so administrators should decide now whether iCloud stays on. Enterprise organisations can restrict new connections for accounts on their own email domain.
DataNorth’s advice is to agree on one clear rule before people start experimenting: work mail and work calendars only connect through a managed Business or Enterprise workspace. For private use, switch off the training setting first, keep Mail on “Always ask” so nothing is sent without your approval, and revoke the app-specific password when you stop using the plugin.
For more information, visit the official description of the iCloud Mail and Calendar plugins in OpenAI’s help article on connected apps.
