ChatGPT Desktop Comes to Linux, Plus Interactive Quizzes and Project Memory Controls
OpenAI’s August 14 ChatGPT release notes bundle several smaller feature updates, the most notable being a public preview of the ChatGPT and Codex desktop app for Linux, alongside interactive quizzes, per-project memory controls, and web/Android refinements.
Details
- Linux desktop app (public preview): ChatGPT and Codex are now available as a desktop app globally in public preview on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and 26.04 LTS, extending the existing macOS and Windows desktop apps to a third platform
- Interactive quizzes: Users can ask ChatGPT to quiz them on a topic and answer the questions directly inline within the conversation, rather than switching to a separate format
- Per-project memory switching: For eligible unshared projects, users can now toggle an existing project between default memory and project-only memory without needing to start a new project from scratch
- Personalized homepage suggestions: Eligible paid users now see homepage suggestions generated from their conversation history, tailored to how they actually use ChatGPT
- Think mode on web for Free and Go: Free and Go tier users on the web can now select “Think” to have ChatGPT reason through harder questions, a capability previously limited to paid tiers on web
- Android composer updates: The dictation button now stays available after text or attachments are added, composer suggestions update live as text is typed or deleted, and the composer stays focused when a physical keyboard is connected so typing isn’t interrupted
What happened next
None of these are individually major launches — OpenAI shipped them together as a routine release-notes update rather than a dedicated announcement. The Linux desktop preview is the one with the broadest reach, since it’s the first time ChatGPT and Codex have had a native desktop client outside macOS and Windows, letting Linux users run the app without relying on the browser.