Perplexity launches Personal Computer for Mac with local file and app control

• Perplexity's launch thread says Personal Computer now ships inside the Mac app, where it can orchestrate work across local files, native apps, and the browser.
• Perplexity's follow-up post adds a more unusual deployment model: run it on a Mac mini 24/7, start tasks from an iPhone, and approve flows with 2FA.
• Availability is narrow on day one. According to the launch post and 9to5Mac's launch write-up, the rollout starts with Perplexity Max subscribers and users already on the waitlist.
• Perplexity has been framing this as the local counterpart to its broader Computer product. Perplexity's March changelog and its March 11 blog post described Personal Computer as a persistent layer that merges local files with the cloud agent.

You can watch the launch demo hop from the Perplexity app into Mail and Calendar, skim 9to5Mac's recap for the rollout details, and dig back into Perplexity's March changelog to see how the company has been positioning Personal Computer inside the larger Computer stack.

Perplexity's core claim is one control layer for three places that usually stay separate: folders on disk, native macOS apps, and the browser. Its launch post says the Mac app can connect to any folder to search, read, and write files locally, while the thread says it can work across iMessage, Apple Mail, and Calendar.

The product page was not readable via Exa at publish time, but 9to5Mac's report matches the same launch scope and notes that Perplexity had first opened a waitlist in March.

The stranger part of the launch is the hardware story. Perplexity's Mac mini post says a Mac mini can sit in the background and run Personal Computer continuously, while tasks can be kicked off from an iPhone.

That turns the Mac app into something closer to a home agent runtime than a desktop sidebar. Aravind Srinivas pitched the setup as orchestration on existing hardware, with hybrid local and server compute rather than a new AI device category.

This launch makes more sense in the context of Perplexity's earlier Computer push. Perplexity's March 13 changelog said Computer had already rolled out to Pro users on web and iOS, and Perplexity's March 11 blog post described Personal Computer as a persistent version that fuses local files with the broader Computer system and runs 24/7.

That earlier material also tied the local agent to Perplexity's wider orchestration pitch, including Computer's multi-model backend and Comet assistant integration. The Mac launch is the first time that framing has turned into a generally available desktop product, even if only for Max users and the waitlist for now.