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Google is finally bringing a native Gemini app to Mac, ending 18 months of browser-only access. But the three AI assistants now competing for your desktop have built their integration approaches on fundamentally different technical and privacy architectures. Here is what that actually means for your workflow.
9to5Mac, citing Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reporting, documented that Google began sharing an early version of the Gemini Mac app with select beta testers during the week of March 19, 2026. The app carries an internal codename: Janus. The message Google sent to testers is straightforward about its limitations: the app contains only the critical features from the existing Gemini clients, not the full set. Standard capabilities including web search, document analysis, image and video generation, and conversation history are included. The deeper desktop integration feature, called Desktop Intelligence, is in early form.
Desktop Intelligence is the headline addition that separates this from a simple browser wrapper. The beta code describes it as a system that allows Gemini to observe the screen and draw context from running applications, but only while Gemini is actively open. The current interface mirrors Gemini on iPhone and iPad, suggesting a consistent design language across platforms.
The timing of the beta matters as context. FelloAI's power-user breakdown documents that ChatGPT launched its Mac app in May 2024 and Claude followed in October 2024. Google acknowledged the Mac app was in active development in December 2025, when Logan Kilpatrick, Google's lead product manager for AI Studio, confirmed the project publicly and described it as part of a broader "Gemini App UX 2.0" initiative. A Gemini Windows desktop app launched through Google Labs in January 2026, restricted to US and Canadian users, English only, on consumer accounts. The Mac version is still in private beta with no release date.
The "critical features only" framing in the beta message is worth holding onto. It signals that Google is shipping a foundation and building from there. What Desktop Intelligence's final implementation will include remains to be confirmed; the beta code describes intended behavior, and the shipping feature may differ in scope.
ChatGPT reads text from your open apps using macOS's accessibility API, the same layer VoiceOver uses for screen readers, a two-decade-old framework that cannot parse images, videos, or visual layouts. Cowork runs Claude entirely inside an isolated VM on your Mac's local storage. Desktop Intelligence, based on the beta code, pushes screen context to Google's servers while Gemini is active. These are not equivalent features with different branding. They represent three different product bets, with different capability ceilings and different relationships to your data.
TechCrunch's coverage of Work with Apps, confirmed by OpenAI desktop product lead Alexander Embiricos, established that ChatGPT's desktop reading capability relies primarily on the macOS accessibility API. This framework can read text from open apps but cannot interpret images, videos, or the visual structure of a document. For some apps like VS Code, users must install a separate extension to enable any reading at all. ChatGPT can pull context from what's on screen; it cannot write back into apps or take autonomous action on files.
OpenAI has been working to expand beyond this limitation. AppleInsider documented that OpenAI acquired Sky, a macOS-native AI layer, on October 23, 2025, with the full team led by Ari Weinstein joining OpenAI. Sky's core capability was a floating overlay that understood on-screen content and could act within apps without requiring the user to switch context. The acquisition signals OpenAI's intent to move beyond the text-reading limitation of the accessibility API.
Anthropic launched Cowork on January 12, 2026, constructed on the Claude Agent SDK powering Claude Code. That shared foundation is the key distinction: Anthropic built Cowork as a purpose-built execution environment rather than retrofitting conversational AI with agent layers, giving it a more capable file-manipulation model. Cowork runs inside a user-designated folder, where Claude can read, edit, and create files through an agentic loop. The user controls which folder is accessible and must explicitly grant permission before any file deletion occurs.
Anthropic's Cowork product page confirms that the entire operation runs in an isolated VM on the user's computer, with conversation history stored locally, not on Anthropic's servers. Users also control network access through an allowlist in settings. Anthropic's Cowork documentation specifies that conversation history is stored locally on your device, not on Anthropic's servers, a design choice that reflects a deliberate architectural decision rather than a missing feature.
Desktop Intelligence, as described in the beta code, operates as a context-enrichment layer: it sees the screen and pulls from apps like Calendar to give Gemini more relevant responses. Cowork is an execution engine: it reads, writes, creates, and deletes files within user-designated folders through an agentic loop. These are different types of capability. Gemini's arrival does not directly compete with Cowork's core function. The platforms have diverged enough that a user choosing between them based on "which one can do more on my desktop" is asking an incomplete question without specifying what kind of doing they mean.
Digital Trends documented that Desktop Intelligence enables Gemini to see screen context and pull data from Mac apps including Calendar. The feature connects directly to Personal Intelligence, Google's system for linking Gemini to Gmail, Photos, and YouTube. Gemini Personal Intelligence went free for all US users on March 17, 2026, two days before the Mac beta was announced. The timing is not incidental.
The integration with Calendar, Gmail, and Drive that Desktop Intelligence draws from is the core use case that DataStudios, FelloAI, and other workflow analyses consistently identify as where Gemini delivers its clearest functional advantage.
For users whose daily work already runs through Google's services, the picture is clear. A native Mac app means a keyboard shortcut, a persistent presence outside the browser, and Desktop Intelligence actively connecting what's on screen to the Gmail threads, Calendar entries, and Drive documents that context already lives in. That is a meaningful quality-of-life improvement and a genuine capability gain.
The DataStudios workflow comparison finds Gemini strongest when work is anchored inside Google's services, because context alignment improves when the assistant is close to the source documents. FelloAI's power-user breakdown reaches the same conclusion through a different lens: the absence of a Mac app has hurt Gemini most with professionals already deep in Google Workspace, because they are the ones who would most directly benefit from Desktop Intelligence's context pulls.
For users whose daily work runs through Apple-native tools — Xcode, Logic Pro, Final Cut, Pages, Numbers — or through Microsoft 365, the context assets Desktop Intelligence is designed to pull from are not inside Google's systems. The app solves the convenience problem of browser-only access, but the underlying fit problem remains: if your work doesn't live in Gmail and Drive, Desktop Intelligence has less to connect to.
Developers who spend their days in Xcode and Terminal, creative professionals working in Final Cut or Logic, and writers whose documents live in Apple Pages or Microsoft Word are not Gemini's primary users. A native Mac app changes how they launch Gemini. It does not change what Gemini knows about their work.
When an AI assistant can see everything on your screen, the data handling architecture shifts from a background consideration to a front-of-mind decision. The three platforms handle this differently, and the differences are structural.
Char Blog's analysis of Google's privacy framework found that Gemini conversations are retained for 18 months by default, adjustable to 3 or 36 months. Even disabling Gemini Apps Activity does not provide zero retention: Google still retains conversations for up to 72 hours to operate the service. If a human reviewer accesses a conversation, that conversation is retained for up to three years and disconnected from the user's Google Account. No configuration eliminates retention entirely for consumer accounts.
What this means in practice is worth spelling out. A professional handling unreleased code, legally privileged documents, or sensitive client files who enables screen-level AI access is operating inside a retention window that persists long after the session ends. The 72-hour floor applies even to users who have explicitly signaled a preference for minimal data retention by disabling activity tracking. The three-year human reviewer pathway exists independently of any user setting.
Google's official position on Personal Intelligence is that it does not train directly on a user's Gmail inbox or Photos library. The official documentation states that training is limited to filtered prompt and response pairs. The scope of that filtering, and how Desktop Intelligence's screen-reading sessions are classified under this framework, is not yet specified in any public documentation.
Claude's Cowork operates under a different model by design. The isolated VM on the user's device means files never leave the machine during sessions. Conversation history stays on the device. ChatGPT's Work with Apps reads text from apps using the accessibility layer; OpenAI's retention and data use policies govern what happens to that context in practice.
The privacy complexity extends to mobile as well. For readers evaluating their full AI assistant setup across devices, Comet for iPhone presents a similar set of questions: a personal assistant that learns your patterns and automates on your behalf comes with its own privacy architecture trade-offs worth understanding before you adopt it.
What remains unconfirmed is how Desktop Intelligence's data handling will interact with the Siri/Gemini integration expected in iOS 27 and macOS 27; two simultaneous Gemini surfaces on Apple hardware introduce data-flow questions that neither Google nor Apple has addressed publicly.
Gemini conversations are retained for 18 months by default. Claude's Cowork stores conversation history only on your device, never on Anthropic's servers. These are not fine-print differences; they likely reflect opposite strategic bets on what trust means in an era when AI can see your screen, though the full implications of that divergence will only become clear as both products reach broader adoption.
The beta launch followed a deliberate pattern. Google I/O 2026 is officially scheduled for May 19-20, 2026, at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. Google's annual developer conference has been the consistent venue for major Gemini product announcements, and a beta that begins eight weeks before I/O is consistent with the timeline a public launch announcement would require.
The Windows Labs precedent reinforces this reading. Google launched the Windows desktop app through Google Labs in January 2026, restricted to US and Canadian users, English only, and consumer accounts only. That app has served as a testing ground for the broader desktop rollout. The Janus beta is operating in a similar capacity for Mac.
Personal Intelligence going free for US users on March 17, Janus entering beta on March 19, and I/O scheduled for May 19-20 form a sequence. Google has not confirmed a coordinated rollout strategy, so this convergence appears deliberate rather than coincidental based on the timeline, but the final sequencing remains Google's to announce.
The "critical features only" beta framing is the most useful signal for setting expectations. Google is testing stability and core functionality first. Desktop Intelligence in its final form will likely expand beyond what the beta code currently describes, but what that expansion includes and what subscription tier it requires are not yet documented.
Capability is the wrong frame for choosing between these three platforms. The right question is not which assistant is most capable in isolation, but which assistant is most capable given where your work already lives.
If your daily work runs through Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, Gemini on Mac closes a real gap. Desktop Intelligence connects what's on screen to the context that already exists in your Google account. Personal Intelligence, now free for US users, extends that connection to Photos and YouTube history. The native app delivers the keyboard shortcut and system presence that browser-only access could not. For this user type, the Gemini Mac app is the right choice to watch closely when it formally ships.
The convenience improvement of a native app is real. The workflow-fit improvement is limited. Gemini's context advantage requires work to live in Google's services. For users who spend their days in Xcode, Final Cut, Logic, Pages, or Microsoft 365, that context is elsewhere. Claude and ChatGPT have each had over a year to mature their Mac integrations, and both are designed to work with files and contexts that live outside any single ecosystem.
Claude's Cowork is the most functionally distinct offering for users who need autonomous file-level task execution. VentureBeat documented that Cowork launched as exclusive to Claude Max subscribers ($100-200/month), reflecting the computational cost of agentic local execution. DataCamp's tutorial confirmed Cowork expanded to Claude Pro subscribers on January 16, 2026 and to Team and Enterprise accounts on January 23, 2026. The expanded access makes the agentic local execution model available at lower price points, though Cowork tasks consume significantly more of a subscription's usage allocation than standard chat.
The decision here is primarily about where code and files live. Developers working in local environments, building with local file access, or handling codebases that cannot leave the machine have a structural reason to favor Cowork's local-execution model over a cloud-connected context layer. The Sky acquisition suggests ChatGPT's Mac capabilities will continue to expand, particularly around app-level actions rather than text reading alone. Gemini's desktop presence gives developers working inside Google's ecosystem a more capable daily driver. For developers outside it, the app is a welcome addition but not a switch trigger.
The Gemini Mac app will formally arrive. When it does, the choice between AI assistants on Mac will remain genuinely workflow-dependent. The announcement does not change the calculus; it adds a third option that is the best choice for a specific and clearly defined user type.
The core Gemini assistant is available free at gemini.google.com and will be accessible in the Mac app. Advanced features including Gemini 3 Ultra access, extended context windows, and priority generation sit behind Google AI Pro ($19.99/month in the US) and Google AI Ultra ($249.99/month) subscriptions. Personal Intelligence, the feature that connects Gemini to Gmail, Photos, and YouTube, went free for all US users on March 17, 2026, and is now included without a paid subscription for US consumers.
Desktop Intelligence, the screen-reading and app-context feature central to the Mac app's differentiation, has not had its tier requirements specified in the beta. The Windows Labs precedent, where several advanced features required the Pro tier, suggests Desktop Intelligence's full capability may require a paid plan. The beta message's "critical features only" framing makes it premature to state which tier Desktop Intelligence will require at launch.
These are distinct. MacRumors, citing Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reporting, documented that Apple is planning Siri in iOS 27 and macOS 27 to use a Gemini AI model. That integration sits inside Apple's privacy framework, routes through Siri's interface, and operates under Apple's data policies rather than Google's directly.
The standalone Gemini Mac app is a separate surface: Google's own client, with Google's data handling policies, keyboard shortcut, and Desktop Intelligence. A Mac running macOS 27 may have both: a Siri layer powered by Gemini models and a standalone Gemini app with its own direct connection to Google's services. How data flows between those two surfaces, and whether context from one informs the other, has not been documented by either Google or Apple. That is a genuine open question worth tracking before either ships.
A Gemini desktop app for Windows launched through Google Labs in January 2026, restricted to US and Canadian users, in English only, on consumer accounts. The Windows version is described as a Labs release, meaning it is an early and potentially unstable build offered for feedback. It serves as the testing ground that the Mac Janus beta now also represents.
FelloAI's timeline documents the full platform rollout sequence: Android launched first in February 2024, iOS followed in November 2024, Windows arrived in Google Labs form in January 2026, and Mac entered private beta in March 2026. Google I/O 2026, scheduled for May 19-20, is the most likely formal announcement window for both apps to graduate from Labs and beta status. The Mac app, based on the beta code, appears to be building toward feature parity with the Windows release as its baseline before adding Mac-specific capabilities like Desktop Intelligence.