Products · Product
ChatGPT
Raised as a usability problem by 502 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 394 threads.
- 1
- 2Responses are too slow to useUnreviewed
- 3Choosing between models is confusingUnreviewed
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- 1Responses are too slow to useUnreviewed
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- 5Choosing between models is confusingUnreviewed
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- 1Responses are too slow to useUnreviewed
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Choosing between models is confusingUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Responses are too slow to useUnreviewed
20132026- The feature is very slow to respond when used2026-10-02
- Interface so slow to respond it's barely usable, with delays over 10 seconds2026-08-22
- Interface is very laggy, takes tens of seconds to load conversations and populate content2026-08-10
Typing is slow and rendering lags or freezes in long chatsUnreviewed
20132026- Extreme lag in longer chats makes the app unusable on Windows2026-11-03
- App becomes unusable and laggy once more than 20 chats are listed2026-11-03
- Hangs and crawls on moderately sized chats, becoming laggy and unresponsive2026-09-01
Scrollbars are hard to use, making page scrolling difficultUnreviewed
20132026- Sidebar cannot scroll on regular screens, so bottom list items are unreachable2026-08-31
- Scrollbar appears only on scroll and must be dragged to top, hidden and found by trial and error2026-07-23
- Long chats are hard to navigate, with no good way to move around them2026-05-05
Choosing between models is confusingUnreviewed
20132026- Naming scheme is confusing; users must have it explained to choose2026-10-26
- Models released separately make it hard to know which to choose2026-10-26
- Same model name for different versions, with no clear indication of which one is in use2026-08-07
Must repeatedly adjust and refine prompts, then gets nonsense outputUnreviewed
20132026- Prompt-based interaction is a poor user experience that hides how much the output depends on the system2024-12-25
- Must copy text into prompts and go back and forth, which is slow2024-02-08
- Keeps adding unwanted conclusions despite explicit instructions not to, making prompts hard to control2024-02-07
Opt-out for training data use is not visibly findableUnreviewed
20132026- Settings toggle keeps flipping back to share, overriding the user's choice2026-09-10
- Users must know a hidden setting and plan tier to stop data training2026-09-10
- Opt-out of model training is hidden from users2025-06-22
Opting out of training also turns off chat history, with no per-chat controlUnreviewed
20132026- Turning off training also disables chat history, forcing paying users to cripple the product2024-04-01
- Opting out of training disables chat history and custom instructions, so the real opt-out was hard to find2024-01-11
- Disabling the chat history setting silently blocks voice mode and GPTs2023-11-16
Search results are slow and hard to get an overview ofUnreviewed
20132026- Search results are slow and hard to get an overview of2025-02-25
- Search has become inconsistent, often returning only a few limited results2024-07-25
- Search is slow, and it answers briefly instead of showing the best sites2024-02-15
Developers must repeatedly copy code between modules and ChatGPTUnreviewed
20132026- Code must be manually cut and pasted between editor and web chat2026-04-05
- Hard to quickly send contents of multiple code files to ChatGPT2025-04-25
- Developers must repeatedly copy code between modules and ChatGPT, a poor experience2024-10-31
Too many options to start a chat; hard to find chats and recall their modeUnreviewed
20132026- Main chat interface shifts around during load, so people constantly click wrong buttons2026-10-14
- Hard to switch between projects and remember which chat is where2026-10-07
- Too many choices to start or continue a chat; hard to find chats and remember which mode they're in2026-10-03
Captchas are hard to understand and appear about twice per hourUnreviewed
20132026- Gets bombarded with CAPTCHAs every time they try to use it2023-09-09
- Captchas are hard to understand and appear about twice per hour2023-08-23
- CAPTCHA appears too often and is confusing and unreliable2023-08-12
Forgets earlier messages, so conversations lose contextUnreviewed
20132026- Context is split across tools, forcing copy-pasting and repeated conversations2026-02-10
- Users keep questions in one chat, expecting it to track context like a person would2024-09-10
- Conversations get too long, losing context, forcing the user to restart them2024-05-27
Popup ads get in the way and make the interface annoyingUnreviewed
20132026- People click ads without realizing they are ads2026-01-16
- Ads appear mid-conversation and the user cannot find a way to turn them off2025-11-30
- Bad UI and ads push the commenter to use it more2023-05-02
Copying long chats into Docs or Notion breaks formatting and code blocksUnreviewed
20132026- Pasting markdown blobs between chat sidebar and word processor is clumsy; can't restructure or format documents2026-02-03
- Copying long chats into Docs or Notion breaks formatting and makes code blocks messy2026-01-22
- Chat becomes sluggish after long code pastes, forcing restarts with summaries2025-05-08
Reopened old chats error and Stop blocks new messages for a minuteUnreviewed
20132026- Can't return to an earlier branch of a conversation, forcing new chats2025-04-12
- Can't easily return to an earlier message to fix it without disrupting the rest of the chat2024-05-09
- Reopened old chats error on new messages, and Stop blocks new messages for a minute2023-08-29
Interrupts users when it shouldn't and often mishears speechUnreviewed
20132026- Constant filler interruptions like 'mh' and 'go on' disrupt the user's speech, with no way to reduce them2026-07-09
- Responds too early during pauses, forcing users to rush their words2024-05-13
- Sometimes thinks the user is done speaking when they are not2023-11-22
Voice chat stops mid-sentence when road noise interrupts itUnreviewed
20132026- Voice chat stops responding mid-sentence when car or road noise interrupts it2026-07-08
- Voice mode's overly casual style makes conversation tedious for the user2026-01-08
- Voice conversation responses are capped too short, forcing constant circling to go deeper2025-10-10
Prompts sometimes never finish, leaving users waiting for nothingUnreviewed
20132026- Prompts disappear, errors occur, and buttons don't respond2026-09-23
- Prompts sometimes never complete, so the user waits and returns to nothing2025-01-18
- Can't find how to stop the prompt from running2023-01-11
Gives slightly wrong answers repeatedly, wasting days in a loopUnreviewed
20132026- Wrong answers and hallucinated APIs loop endlessly despite repeated corrections2024-10-29
- Repeats the entire previous answer when asked for a short clarification2024-08-06
- Gives long repeated answers with irrelevant code, ignores custom instructions, wastes user time2024-05-14
Frequent follow-up prompts push users to pick one at randomUnreviewed
20132026- Cannot stop unwanted follow-up suggestions; settings and prompts don't turn them off2025-09-26
- Follow-up prompts are so frequent and irritating that users pick one at random2025-01-31
- Often ignores what the user says in follow-up queries2024-05-13
Link opens GPT-4 or GPT-3.5 chat instead of GPT-4oUnreviewed
20132026- Shared ChatGPT links often fail to load due to cookie popups and access problems2025-07-11
- Link opens GPT-4 or GPT-3.5 chat instead of the GPT-4o model2024-05-13
- Team members can't tell why they lack GPT-4 access in the chat interface2024-01-11
No way to set default model, so each new chat needs switchingUnreviewed
20132026- Cannot find a setting to change the default from Codex back to chat2026-07-15
- No way to change default model, so every new chat needs manual switching2026-01-29
- Chat site defaults to plugins mode, forcing a dropdown switch to regular ChatGPT each time2023-05-06
Emojis bury key answer content, making information hard to findUnreviewed
20132026- Answers are padded with headings, emojis and too many paragraphs despite instructions to be short2026-04-24
- Answers bury information under endless emojis, so key content is hard to find2026-03-19
- Emoji on every sentence makes status emails hard to read and find important content2025-11-27
Searching via ChatGPT is too slow and needs lengthy promptsUnreviewed
20132026- Using ChatGPT for searching is too slow and needs lengthy prompts2024-02-15
- Searching the App Store for the official ChatGPT app is a mess2023-05-18
- Using ChatGPT requires registering, confirming email, and entering a phone number before use2023-03-24
Presents answers as accurate, then blames the user when challengedUnreviewed
20132026- Presents answers as accurate, then blames the user when challenged2024-05-25
- Confidently gives wrong answers and needs heavy prompting to reach the correct one2023-03-31
- Gives answers that may be wrong, so users must double-check elsewhere and lose time2023-02-12
Web UI lacks search for past chats, available only in mobile appUnreviewed
20132026- Chat search works in the app but not on the website2024-11-01
- Web UI lacks search for past chats, only available in mobile app2024-03-05
- Cannot search chat history content; must open each conversation to see it2023-05-15
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- App becomes unusable and laggy once more than 20 chats are listed2026-11-03
- Extreme lag in longer chats makes the app unusable on Windows2026-11-03
- Models released separately make it hard to know which to choose2026-10-26
- Naming scheme is confusing; users must have it explained to choose2026-10-26
- User spent a minute hunting for the new chat control; not intuitive where it is2026-10-22
- Paid subscribers are forced to enter a phone number before using Codex2026-10-15
- Main chat interface shifts around during load, so people constantly click wrong buttons2026-10-14
- Raw model continues prompts with more list items instead of answering them2026-10-10
- New features break at some resolutions and browsers and hog memory and CPU2026-10-08
- Simple questions trigger a large UI the user must sort through to find the answer2026-10-07
- Hard to switch between projects and remember which chat is where2026-10-07
- Too many choices to start or continue a chat; hard to find chats and remember which mode they're in2026-10-03
- Chat format makes simple tasks like reading email lists awkward and unfluid2026-10-03
- The feature is very slow to respond when used2026-10-02
- Can't tell in advance which model suits a task, wasting time and tokens2026-09-23
- Censors China-related and random topics, making it borderline unusable for news2026-09-23
- Prompts disappear, errors occur, and buttons don't respond2026-09-23
- Getting to a specific page takes many steps: map, card, bullet list, then a popup link2026-09-12
- Users must know a hidden setting and plan tier to stop data training2026-09-10
- Unclear what the 'Improve the model for everyone' option means, seen as a dark pattern2026-09-10
- Settings toggle keeps flipping back to share, overriding the user's choice2026-09-10
- Buttons appear for a disabled feature, so users accidentally trigger it2026-09-10
- Users get confused by the training setting, which may be a bad UI2026-09-10
- Very slow to respond and overengineers code with bloated output2026-09-09
- Pro model hidden; user had to click thinking to find it2026-09-04
- App pegs all CPU cores at 100%, making the machine unusable2026-09-02
- Unclear where transcribed text goes after recording stops2026-09-01
- Hangs and crawls on moderately sized chats, becoming laggy and unresponsive2026-09-01
- Subscription options are confusing to understand and navigate2026-09-01
- Sidebar cannot scroll on regular screens, so bottom list items are unreachable2026-08-31
- Product is extraordinarily confusing and figuring it out took too much work2026-08-31
- Confusing split between Chat and Codex/Work modes; poor discoverability2026-08-31
- Users can't tell how Work and Codex modes differ; seems like a reskin2026-08-31
- UI changes make projects unusable and feedback thumbs up/down unavailable2026-08-23
- Interface so slow to respond it's barely usable, with delays over 10 seconds2026-08-22
- Responses feel unhelpful and redundant compared to raw models2026-08-17
- Combined app is bloated and too complicated for simple questions2026-08-13
- Using it as a remote desktop session is awkward; the user finds the UX awful2026-08-13
- ChatGPT-style UIs lack good labelling support and are cluttered or finicky2026-08-11
- Chat list topics jump around randomly, making it hard to pick the right one2026-08-10
- Interface is very laggy, takes tens of seconds to load conversations and populate content2026-08-10
- Effort dial hidden; must press + to reach model options, defaults unclear2026-08-07
- Same model name for different versions, with no clear indication of which one is in use2026-08-07
- User finds the model and tier lineup confusing to understand and choose between2026-08-07
- Users don't know which effort level to pick, so they default to high2026-08-07
- Effort setting hidden; must press + and choose think harder to reveal it2026-08-07
- Must wait for the assistant to ask questions and then type replies before getting an answer2026-08-06
- Auto-formatting Markdown breaks copy-and-paste and cannot be turned off2026-08-06
- Scrollbar appears only on scroll and must be dragged to top, hidden and found by trial and error2026-07-23
- Ad opens in a cramped 90% screen with no way to open in browser2026-07-22