OpenAI turns ChatGPT into an app platform with in-chat app suggestions and 'Sign in with ChatGPT'

OpenAI is moving ChatGPT closer to an operating-system-style platform. TechCrunch reports that the new features take direct aim at the app-store model:

- ChatGPT will proactively suggest relevant apps during conversations.

- Plugins get dedicated homes in the sidebar, with interactive panels.

The second piece is 'Sign in with ChatGPT.' According to The New Stack, it lets ChatGPT subscribers log into third-party tools and spend their existing plan allowance there. Early partners include Devin, Amp, Warp, Lovable and OpenClaw. For developers, this removes a major barrier: users no longer need a separate subscription or API key for each tool, because usage bills against the plan they already have.

Builders call it a distribution win, but with lock-in risk. Once a tool's users authenticate and pay through ChatGPT, OpenAI controls the identity layer, the billing relationship and the usage limits. That risk is concrete this week, as OpenAI cuts Pro-plan usage and users protest the "Codex rugpull." If a tool's users run through ChatGPT allowances, OpenAI's pricing changes become the tool's problem too.

Ethan Mollick pointed to OpenAI's track record. He said it "feels like every year OpenAI releases a variation on the same third-party ecosystem only to semi-abandon it": Plugins in 2023, GPTs and the GPT Store in 2023–2024, Apps in 2025, and now Plugins again, "same name, different thing," in 2026.

Competitive context: Apple and Google control mobile distribution, and Microsoft is pitching Copilot as the enterprise layer. OpenAI's advantage is 1.2B weekly users. Watch for developer adoption, revenue-share terms, and whether this version of the ecosystem lasts longer than the previous ones.