ChatGPT Is Back on WhatsApp in Europe — No Account Needed
After Meta banned rival chatbots in January, the EU forced WhatsApp back open. ChatGPT now answers again at 1-800-CHATGPT across the EEA — with text, voice messages, image uploads, and image generation.
If you’re in Europe and missed asking ChatGPT questions straight from WhatsApp, it’s back. Since July 13, users across the European Economic Area — the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway — can message the verified contact 1-800-CHATGPT (+1-800-242-8478) and chat away. No ChatGPT account required.
The returning bot handles more than plain text. You can send voice messages, upload images and ask about them, and generate images, all in many languages. When asked, the bot says it runs on GPT-5.5, and the quality of the image generation suggests those requests go to gpt-image-2, OpenAI’s current image model. If you want more, you can link your WhatsApp number to your ChatGPT account so the bot can pull in context from your OpenAI history and sync conversations. One caveat worth knowing: it’s not fully clear what usage limits apply without a linked account, and OpenAI could quietly route free requests to older, cheaper models.
What’s behind this? A rare case of regulation changing your chat app directly. Meta kicked ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity off WhatsApp in January 2026 after rewriting its business rules — leaving only Meta AI, its own assistant. In June, the European Commission stepped in with interim measures under EU competition law, ordering Meta to reopen the platform to rival AI bots for free. This relaunch is the direct result, which is also why it only covers the EEA: elsewhere, Meta’s ban still stands. OpenAI is meanwhile spreading to other messengers too, launching on Kakao in South Korea and Viber in other markets.
What this means for you: If you’re curious about AI but never wanted to install another app or create an account, this is about the lowest-friction way to try it — ChatGPT lives in the app you already use, free of charge. Add the number, ask it to summarize a text, translate a message, or settle a dinner-table debate. For regular AI users it’s a handy quick-access channel, though the full ChatGPT app still offers more control over models and settings. And it’s worth remembering the bigger picture: which AI you get to use inside your messenger is increasingly decided not just by tech companies, but by regulators.
Sources
Source: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes
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