GPT-6 Pro on iPad shows “Stopped thinking” while the same long-running task continues

ChatGPT Bugs
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On September 4, 2026, during a real long-running GPT-6 Pro engineering task in the ChatGPT iPad app, the UI displayed “Stopped thinking” multiple times even though the same workflow later continued producing substantial output.

I initially interpreted “Stopped thinking” literally and sent a continuation prompt. The workflow later continued and showed a “Worked for 51m 16s” segment, followed by additional output.

This can make it difficult to tell whether a Pro run has actually terminated and may cause duplicate continuation prompts during long-running work.

I’ve submitted the complete private screenshot sequence and device details to OpenAI Support under Case #14449892.

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Update — OpenAI Support Case #14449892

OpenAI Support has added the conversation share link and backgrounding details to the case.

Their current working explanation is that the iPad app UI may lose sync during a long-running request, especially after the app is backgrounded, so “Stopped thinking” may not accurately reflect whether the underlying request is still running.

I’ll update this thread if I can reproduce it again with additional timing or network details.