The problem

Most people assume Claude only knows what it learned during training — that if you want current prices, exchange rates, or news, you have to leave the chat and go check Google yourself.

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That assumption is wrong — and it's wrong on the free plan too.

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The solution

Web search is built into Claude, and it's available on the free plan — not a Pro-only extra. Instead of asking "what do you know about X," ask "find current information about X," and Claude will search the web, check multiple sources, and answer with citations.

This matters most for anything that changes:

• Prices, exchange rates, weather
• Recent news and events
• Whether a fact is still true today (who currently holds a role, is a product still sold, etc.)

How it looks on a tablet

1. Open Claude — the app or claude.ai in your tablet's browser, either works
2. Write your request with an action verb: "find," "check," "what's the current..."
3. Claude decides on its own whether a search is needed, and shows which sources it used

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Example prompt: "What are current train ticket prices from Kyiv to Warsaw?"

Claude won't guess a number from memory — it goes and checks.

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The trick

If an answer feels generic or dated, add the word "current" or "today" to your prompt. That's the signal that tells the model to search instead of answering from training data.

The takeaway

Web search on the free plan isn't a crippled, occasional feature. It's the same capability Pro users get — the free plan just limits your total number of messages, not this specific feature.

🔗 Next in the series: Memory — how Claude remembers context across chats on the free plan