iPhone users can now upgrade to ChatGPT Plus, but there's a catch

Key Takeaways

iOS 18.2 beta lets users test ChatGPT integration on their iPhone.
You can also upgrade to ChatGPT Plus on your iPhone for $20 a month, which gives you access to additional AI features.
Apple and OpenAI supposedly have a revenue-sharing agreement for ChatGPT Plus features.

Apple Intelligence launched recently, and people have started testing Apple’s new AI features on compatible iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. But not all the features users are looking for are there yet, like ChatGPT integration.

With the iOS 182.2 beta, iPhone users can now start testing out the next wave of Apple Intelligence features, including ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and Genmoji. You can even enable ChatGPT Plus on your iPhone to access even more AI features, but you’ll have to pay a subscription fee.

While iOS 18.2 beta is available on all iPhone models capable of running iOS 18, Apple Intelligence features are still limited to the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 lineup.

These 5 iOS 18.2 features make me genuinely excited for Apple Intelligence

iOS 18.2 is expected to land in a few short weeks — here are the features that have me excited to update my iPhone on day one.

How does ChatGPT Plus on iPhone work?

The biggest new feature in iOS 18.2 is without a doubt ChatGPT integration. When it launches in December, the feature will be available on compatible iPhones, iPads and Macs. Open AI’s assistant can sub in for Siri to help answer advanced user inquiries, and ChatGPT will also work alongside Apple’s existing AI writing tools that launched with iOS 18.1 in October. By default, Siri will always ask you if it’s okay to process a request through ChatGPT, but you can turn that off in settings, so Siri just uses ChatGPT automatically for you if needed.

With the new update, you’ll also find a new setting that lets you “Upgrade to ChatGPT Plus.” ChatGPT integration on iPhone is free, and doesn’t require having an OpenAI account. But, by logging into your OpenAI account, you can gain additional features, such as paying to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus if you so choose. The free option does have some limitations, such as a daily limit on ChatGPT’s advanced capabilities, which you can track under Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > ChatGPT.

ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month and according to ChatGPT’s site, and gives you access to additional features such as:

Up to 5x more messages for GPT-4o
Access to data analysis, file uploads, vision, and web browsing
Access to Advanced Voice Mode

To upgrade to ChatGPT Plus on your iPhone, navigate to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > ChatGPT. OpenAI’s site has more information on ChatGPT’s Free and plus features.

When Apple announced it was working with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT on the iPhone, initial reports indicated that no money was involved with the deal. But according to 9to5Mac, with iOS 18.2, Apple and OpenAI apparently agreed to revenue sharing for users who choose to upgrade to a paid ChatGPT Plus account through their iPhone.

It will be interesting to see how users take advantage of ChatGPT integration, and ChatGPT Plus, on compatible iPhones when iOS 18.2 officially launches to the public in December.