In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI has introduced its official ChatGPT iOS app this week. Designed for both iPhones and iPads, this free app offers a streamlined experience for interacting with the popular AI chatbot. Gone are the days of dealing with clunky mobile websites or unreliable third-party apps — simply download the official ChatGPT application and you’re good to go.
This marks a significant leap towards enhancing the accessibility of ChatGPT and reaching a wider audience. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued, compelling me to put the ChatGPT iPhone app through its paces. While the chatbot functions as expected, there is a significant drawback that leaves me hesitant to engage with the app in the future.
Unveiling the ChatGPT iPhone app’s prominent limitation, we find that akin to its desktop counterpart, this mobile app lacks access to real-time information. Inquiring about current events or recent topics prompts a response stating, “As an AI language model, I don’t have real-time information or access to the internet beyond my September 2021 knowledge cutoff.”
This constraint has long been recognized as a deficiency of ChatGPT. However, in a landscape where competitors like Google Bard and Microsoft’s Bing Chat offer internet access — a feature that they have boasted for quite some time — returning to ChatGPT and encountering this restriction swiftly dampens expectations.
While OpenAI provides internet access through its ChatGPT Plus subscription, priced at $20 per month, the current version of the app does not appear to support browsing. As reported by Ars Technica, the app lacks the capability for internet access, rendering real-time, up-to-date answers unattainable even for ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
Utilizing an AI chatbot to explore the web is a personal preference of mine, an experience that the official ChatGPT iPhone app regrettably denies. However, alternatives such as Bing Chat, Google Bard, and third-party iPhone ChatGPT apps like Perplexity AI fill this void satisfactorily.
Alas, the absence of internet access is not the sole shortcoming of the ChatGPT iPhone app. Even when posing basic and less time-sensitive inquiries, some of ChatGPT’s responses have appeared lackluster to me. Comparing ChatGPT’s verbose replies to Perplexity AI’s concise, visually appealing answers underscores a preference for the latter’s approach.
Another glaring flaw of the ChatGPT iPhone app is its failure to attribute the sources of the information it provides. While the chatbot endeavors to furnish answers, the absence of source citation is a noteworthy deficiency. Apps like Bing Chat, Google Bard, and Perplexity AI surpass ChatGPT in this regard, substantiating their replies with in-text links and end-of-answer source breakdowns.
Furthermore, while ChatGPT may offer diverse applications beyond serving as a search engine, the current rendition of the iPhone app falls short in facilitating internet-enabled chatbot interactions — a feature that many users, myself included, find indispensable.
Yet, amidst these shortcomings, the abundance of AI chatbots available today allows users to choose from a variety of options. For those seeking a chatbot with unfettered internet access, Bing Chat, Google Bard, and Perplexity AI offer compelling alternatives. And for the loyalists of ChatGPT, the enhanced iPhone app provides a more seamless experience for engaging with the AI on Apple devices.
While I may not be revisiting the ChatGPT iPhone app in the near future, for users seeking a straightforward means of accessing ChatGPT sans internet capabilities, this app serves as a commendable choice.
For those intrigued, the ChatGPT app can be procured from the App Store.
