ChatGPT Android App Tests Direct Messaging, Including Group Chats

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Android app is quietly taking its first steps toward becoming a full-fledged messaging platform. In the latest beta release, the company has begun testing Direct Messaging (DM) capabilities, allowing users to communicate with one another directly within the app. This marks a significant move toward making ChatGPT more social and collaborative than ever before.

OpenAI is quietly testing Direct Messaging within ChatGPT

The new Direct Messages feature, internally known as “Calpico,” surfaced in version 1.2025.273 beta of the Android app. Discovered by developer Tibor Blaho, this experimental system allows ChatGPT users to message each other directly. The feature appears inspired by the messaging system in OpenAI’s Sora 2 iOS app, hinting at a unified, cross-platform strategy for communication and collaboration within the OpenAI ecosystem.

Early builds suggest that this is more than just one-on-one chatting. The DMs system reportedly supports group conversations (Calpico Rooms), assistant participation, and even joint creative work, including text and image generation within shared threads. Users can rename assistants, block accounts, manage invitations, and collaborate in real time, suggesting OpenAI’s long-term goal is to create shared workspaces powered by AI rather than simple messaging channels.

Current reports indicate that these DMs may not yet include end-to-end encryption (E2EE), the gold standard for private communication used by many popular apps. Without it, the ChatGPT messaging system might struggle to match the security reputation of dedicated chat platforms. OpenAI must be working on it behind the scenes.

CEO Sam Altman has previously hinted at introducing “AI privilege,” a concept akin to attorney-client confidentiality for AI interactions, where user data would be treated with heightened privacy protections. The rollout of DMs could be the first step toward that broader ambition, eventually expanding ChatGPT into a multifunctional “everything app” encompassing collaboration, commerce, and possibly hardware integration.