OpenAI, the popular chatbot ChatGPT developer, has officially rolled out the Android version of ChatGPT. The application still needs to be made available for download in Europe. The developer promises that the Android app will also be available in other countries in a few weeks.
OpenAI reports this on X, the new name of Twitter.
The developer announced last weekend that ChatGPT’s Android app would launch sometime this week. It is currently available in four countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, India and the United States (US). OpenAI has chosen to wait to release the Android app in the Netherlands and other European countries.
When we can expect the release of the Android version of ChatGPT here in Europe, the developer does not say. In an x’s, the new name for a tweet, the company promises to release the app in “additional countries” “in a few weeks.” Whether our country belongs to this second wave is unknown.
Sign up for the ChatGPT Android app
When OpenAI introduced ChatGPT for iOS, it was initially only available in the US. Installing a Virtual Private Network or VPN and connecting to a US server made installing the app from the App Store possible. The iOS app was also available for Dutch users to download two weeks after the launch.
Whether this is also the case with the Android version of ChatGPT remains to be seen. Anyone who registers for the chatbot via the Google Play Store will receive a message as soon as the app is available in the Netherlands. You can go to the Google Play page for that. This link will take you to OpenAI’s official ChatGPT page, not one of the many clones from other developers.
Privacy Risks of ChatGPT
In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT. The developer managed to bind more than one billion users in less than half a year. The chatbot is also popular in the Netherlands: according to market researcher GfK, ChatGPT already had about one and a half million users in our country last April.
In May, the House of Representatives expressed its concerns about ChatGPT. The Party for the Animals (PvdD) is afraid that the chatbot will affect our privacy and therefore asked the cabinet whether the Dutch Data Protection Authority could issue urgent advice. He, in turn, stated that he saw nothing in this.
What data ChatGPT collects, and how can you limit this? Then read our background article ‘The privacy risks of ChatGPT’.
Update (August 1, 2023): OpenAI announces via X, the new name of the blogging platform Twitter, that ChatGPT for Android is available in all countries where the application is supported. A list mentions the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and other Western European countries.