If you\u2019re discussing the best AI<\/a> chatbots, Anthropic\u2019s Claude is going to get a mention. Some would say it\u2019s the best AI app of its kind right now (especially those who write code for a living).<\/p>\n While Claude doesn\u2019t cover as much ground as some of its rivals\u2014there are no AI image generation tools here, for example\u2014it excels in certain key areas, and comes with a whole raft of features to explore.<\/p>\n These tips and tricks show off what Claude can do, and what you can do with it. You can use the AI bot on the web, and there are also apps for Windows<\/a>, macOS<\/a>, Android<\/a>, and iOS<\/a>. You don\u2019t have to pay to use Claude but the subscription plans that start at $20 per month give you higher usage limits and access to more features.<\/p>\n As always, before using any AI platform, weigh the environmental impacts<\/a> and ethics of scraping work from human creators.<\/p>\n 1. Get Claude to do your research<\/p>\n If you really want Claude to dig deep for its answers, you don\u2019t mind waiting a few minutes more, and you\u2019re on a paid plan, then you can enable an in-depth response mode by selecting the + (plus) in the prompt box, and then turning on the Research toggle switch.<\/p>\n After you enter your prompt, Claude will head off on a deep online dive, pulling together the best sources on the web to collect the information you\u2019ve asked for. This then gets presented in a fully formatted document you can read in the chat or export elsewhere.<\/p>\n You can use this in all kinds of ways, whether you want a detailed explainer of 20th century American literature or a report on the current state of the semiconductor industry. Claude will list its sources after its finished, so you can double-check it\u2019s got its facts correct.<\/p>\n 2. Create visualizations using Claude<\/p>\n Claude can\u2019t create images in the same way that ChatGPT and Gemini can, but it will make diagrams, charts, and visualizations for you in the web and desktop apps. Just include a request in the prompt, like \u201cmake a visualization of\u2026\u201d followed by what you need.<\/p>\n For example, you can ask for an interactive chart showing world population over time, or a visualization showing how rockets work, or a diagram of a human cell. Almost anything that Claude is able to pull up information on can be turned into a graphic of some kind.<\/p>\n 3. Plug Claude into your other apps<\/p>\n Claude is able to plug into a variety of your other apps, and these plug-ins are called connectors: Select the + (plus) button on the prompt box, then Connectors to browse through what\u2019s available and to access and manage the plug-ins you\u2019ve already added.<\/p>\n There are many connectors to choose from: Spotify is one that you can add, so you can generate playlists from Claude and export them to your account. You can also connect Gmail, and use prompts in Claude to analyze and organize what\u2019s in your inbox.<\/p>\n 4. Set some limits on Claude\u2019s responses<\/p>\n Bear in mind that your Claude prompts can include instructions for how to answer, as well as questions about the information you need. So, you can tell the AI<\/a> to keep its responses within a certain word count, or have it return its answer in a bulleted list, for example.<\/p>\n This works in terms of style and tone as well: If you need something explained simply or at a high technical level, include this instruction. You can even have Claude take on different personalities, such as a friendly science professor or a tour guide with local knowledge.<\/p>\n 5. Use Claude for summarizing your documents<\/p>\n If you click or tap the + (plus) button in the prompt box, then pick Add files or photos (web and desktop) or Files (mobile), you can give Claude some documents to work with (emails, letters, reports, essays, or whatever you\u2019ve got), and then get the AI to summarize them.<\/p>\n As with any other prompt, you can set the parameters for Claude to work in: You can specify the length of the summaries, or the particular details you need to know about. Include questions in your prompts too (such as \u201chow should I respond?\u201d) if needed.<\/p>\n 6. Get Claude to tell you what you\u2019re looking at<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using Claude on your phone you get an extra trick you can use: You can point your phone\u2019s camera at something and get the AI to tell you what you\u2019re looking at. Tap the + (plus) button on the prompt box, tap Camera, then take a snap to use in a prompt.<\/p>\n For example, you might want to ask about what a particular type of flower is, or find out what a certain road sign means, or look up a dish that you haven\u2019t heard of before on a menu. Claude should be able to read and analyze any text in the captured image too.<\/p>\n 7. Switch to Claude Voice Mode for a more natural chat<\/p>\n In the lower right-hand corner of the prompt box you\u2019ll notice an icon that looks like a sound wave, and if you tap this you can enable Voice Mode. You speak out your prompts, and the AI speaks out its responses in return, like you\u2019re having a natural conversation.<\/p>\n This way of working is particularly useful when your hands are busy doing something else or when you\u2019re traveling (when you\u2019re driving in the car maybe). Note this is different to tapping the mic icon, which will turn your spoken speech into a text-based prompt.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t neglect Claude\u2019s web searching abilities, which can be enabled by clicking or tapping the + (plus) button in the prompt box and enabling Web search. You can use this to look up any information on the web, but it\u2019ll also grab the latest headlines for you.<\/p>\n Just use a prompt to ask for the current trending stories on whatever topic you like (such as sports, tech, or science), and Claude will oblige. You can customize the response as well, by telling Claude how many stories you want and how much detail you\u2019d like on each one.<\/p>\n 9. Create files from within Claude<\/p>\n Claude can do more than just reply inside conversations: It can also produce files for you, in PDF, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint format. If you combine this with everything else Claude can do, you can get some impressive results\u2014just say the file type you want in the prompt.<\/p>\n So, for example, not only can you get Claude to draft a letter to the headteacher at your kids\u2019 school, you can also have it ready to go in PDF format. Or, if you\u2019re thinking up pointers for a speech, you can have these sent directly to a Word document.<\/p>\n Whether you want a spreadsheet to help with financial planning or a slideshow that explains DNA in simple terms, Claude can help out. It\u2019s particularly useful for creating templates of any type that you can then download and edit yourself as needed.<\/p>\n \t\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t 2025 PopSci Best of What\u2019s New<\/p>\n The 50 most important innovations of the year<\/p>\n \t\u00a0<\/p>\n David Nield produces how-to guides and explainers on everything from improving your smartphone photos<\/a> to boosting the security of your laptop<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the Popular Science daily newsletter\ud83d\udca1 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[53,3154,182,42467,66],"class_list":["post-79538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anthropic","tag-anthropic","tag-anthropic-claude","tag-claude","tag-evergreen","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01-chart.jpg\")
A Claude-created chart of world population. Screenshot: Claude <\/p>\n![\"limits](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/02-responses.jpg\")
You can specify the style and length of Claude\u2019s responses. Screenshot: Claude <\/p>\n![\"add](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/03-camera.jpg\")
Make use of the camera function in the Claude mobile apps. Screenshot: Claude <\/p>\n![\"screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/04-news.jpg\")
Get your morning news update from Claude. Screenshot: Claude <\/p>\n![\"products](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/best-of-whats-new-2025-HERO.png\")
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