I Tried Microsoft Copilot’s Mac App, and You Probably Shouldn't

There's a lot of talk online these days about hiding Copilot in Windows and tools that can remove it entirely. There's a reason for that: Some people are annoyed with AI and would prefer not to deal with it.

Despite this trend, Microsoft recently launched Copilot for Mac, for some reason. While Windows users are looking to remove Microsoft's AI tool from their machines, Mac users are invited to actively install it on theirs. So, in the interest of fairness, I am going to take the exact opposite approach to hiding Copilot in Windows: setting up Copilot on your Mac. The thing is, unless you really love Copilot, you probably shouldn't use this app.

Copilot for Mac is about what you'd expect

Copilot for Mac is basically the web version of Copilot in a dedicated Mac window. You can sign into your Microsoft account and start talking with the virtual assistant right away. There are a few Mac-specific features here: The first is a system-wide keyboard shortcut, Option-Space, for quickly sending a message to Copilot in a little pop-up overlay. (You can change the keyboard shortcut if you want.) This is not unlike how ChatGPT's launcher works on its desktop app.

Credit: Justin Pot

There's also a menu bar icon you can click to bring up this same pop-up. The application respects your Mac's Appearance setting, meaning if you switch to Dark Mode so will Copilot.

And that's honestly most of the Mac integration features offered. Unlike ChatGPT's Mac app, there's no screenshot button, which is a bit of a disappointment—that feature lets you ask ChatGPT about things currently on your screen. With Copilot, you'll have to take the screenshot and upload it yourself. If you don't care about this keyboard shortcut you could just as easily use the web version of Copilot and not notice the difference.

You can use Copilot to do pretty much all of the usual stuff you associate with other large language model chatbots, like ChatGPT or Claude—everything from coding, to research, to cheating on homework. The free version of Copilot, notably, has access to current information from the web, meaning you can ask it about current events and sports. But there aren't a lot of Mac-specific reasons to install the app.

For the sake of comparison, here is the Mac version (spouting widely-reported misinformation about the NHL trade deadline):

Credit: Justin Pot

And here's the Windows version (which seems to have decent taste in Game Boy Advance games):

Credit: Justin Pot

Yeah, they're the same. If you like Copilot on Windows, you'll like it on Mac. If you haven't tried Copilot, and are curious, maybe try the web version first. It's essentially the same, and won't take up any space on your hard drive.

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