OpenAI has patched its ChatGPT Mac app after a wave of user complaints. The original redesign, part of a big update on July 9, 2026, hid basic chat features and buried conversation history. The backlash was quick and loud. OpenAI has now responded with a fix that puts chat back within easy reach. Here’s what went wrong, and what changed.
One App, Three Modes
The July 9 update was a major overhaul. OpenAI merged its ChatGPT and Codex products into a single desktop app for Mac and Windows. It now runs three modes:
Chat for quick questions and conversation
Work for multi-step professional tasks
Codex for software development
The standalone Codex app is gone, folded into the unified app. Existing Codex users keep their projects, settings, and workflows after updating.
The star of the release is ChatGPT Work. It’s an agent that can handle whole workflows on its own, like preparing reports, building presentations, analysing data, writing and running code, and replying to messages. It runs in the cloud, so it keeps working even after you close your laptop. It’s available to Plus, Pro, Teams, and Enterprise subscribers.
The update also brought GPT-5.6, a new model family with three tiers:
Sol, the flagship model
Terra, balanced for everyday work
Luna, fast and affordable
Free and Go users get Terra. Paid users can pick any of the three.
The Backlash And Quick Fix
The rollout hit trouble fast. Users on OpenAI’s forum and social media said the new Mac app hid conversation history and stripped out familiar navigation. TechRadar reported sharp criticism, with one user simply writing, “Christ almighty, this is so bad”.
OpenAI moved quickly. The fix, now live for all plans on Mac and Windows, makes chats easy to reach again:
A clearer layout to switch between Chat and Work
Unified Recents, so Chat and Work conversations sit together and can be sorted, filtered, and pinned
Projects now appear inside the desktop app
A global switcher to jump between ChatGPT and Codex
Codex stays a separate view, with its history unchanged.
There’s one more big change tied to this update. OpenAI is shutting down Atlas, its Chromium-based AI browser launched in October 2025. Executive James Sun confirmed on X that Atlas stops working on August 9, 2026:
https://x.com/JamesZmSun/status/1943015985209163935
Atlas lasted just nine months. Its agentic browsing features are moving into the ChatGPT desktop app’s built-in browser and a new Google Chrome extension that can read page context, summarise content, and start tasks from the sidebar.
The extension’s general availability date hasn’t been announced yet. Users have until August 9 to move any Atlas data they want to keep.
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