Set an iMessage Out-of-Office Auto-Reply on Mac

An away reply that answers the message

A fixed response like "I am unavailable" confirms receipt, but it ignores the question. Someone asking when you are free needs a different answer from someone sharing a routine update. GhostReply combines an away-style instruction with recent conversation context so its response can acknowledge the actual message.

For the shortest replies, choose the Busy style. It is designed to acknowledge and defer in a compact sentence. You can target one person for a sensitive work block or choose everyone for incoming one-to-one chats. Group chats are skipped. GhostReply only works while your Mac is awake, Messages is signed in, the internet is available, and the app is running.

This is not a calendar assistant. GhostReply does not read your schedule or turn itself on for meetings. Start it intentionally before you become unavailable, watch the live status if you want, and stop it when you return. That manual boundary makes it clear when automatic sending is active.

What Apple Focus does, and what it does not do

On Mac, Apple's Focus settings guide says Focus can silence notifications and share a status that tells Messages contacts your notifications are silenced. That status is not a custom reply to the message itself.

Apple separately documents a static Auto-Reply setting for Driving Focus on iPhone. You can choose audiences such as Favorites or All Contacts and customize one message. GhostReply fills a different gap on Mac: it is manually started, reads the incoming conversation, and generates different wording based on context. It does not inherit your Focus schedule or activate from Calendar.

How to use it for a meeting or focus block

1. Install GhostReply and enter your Groq API key during setup.
2. Run ghostreply just before you become unavailable.
3. Choose Busy for brief acknowledgments, or Autopilot for replies closer to your usual style.
4. Select One person for narrow coverage or Everyone for all eligible one-to-one chats.
5. Choose a reply speed, keep the terminal session open, and stop GhostReply when you are available again.

If you only want to cover one relationship, use the more focused one-person iMessage auto-reply setup.

Mac, permission, and Groq requirements

• A Mac that stays awake and online with iMessage active in Messages.
• Full Disk Access for your terminal app, which lets GhostReply read the local Messages database.
• Automation permission for the terminal app to control Messages. Contacts access is used for readable contact names when available.
• Your own Groq API key for generating replies. Relevant context goes directly from the Mac to Groq.

GhostReply stores its profile, configuration, and statistics under ~/.ghostreply. Your message content does not pass through GhostReply's servers. Trial, licensing, and analytics data can reach GhostReply services. Groq is a separate processor with its own controls and policies, described in Groq's data documentation. See the GhostReply privacy page for the product data flow.

Takeover behavior and safety limits

When you target one person, a manual reply from you stops GhostReply after it has sent at least one reply. When you target everyone, manually texting a contact after GhostReply has answered that person pauses automation for the contact for 30 minutes while other eligible chats can continue. Closing the app stops the whole session.

Urgent and sensitive handling is based on keyword patterns, not human understanding. An urgent match is skipped and surfaced as a Mac notification. A sensitive match can receive a generic holding line before notifying you. The rules can miss slang, sarcasm, images, voice notes, or unusual wording. An attachment may be represented only by a basic type label, such as photo, so the model can lack the context needed for a good answer. Groups are skipped. None of these controls guarantees a correct outcome.