How to Use Claude

To use Claude, open claude.ai in a browser (or the iOS and Android app or the desktop app), sign in with an email address or a Google account, verify a phone number, and type what you want in the chat box. The Free plan costs $0 and covers everyday questions, web search, file uploads, memory and artifacts; Pro at $20 a month adds more usage, the Opus models, Research, unlimited Projects and Claude Code (as of Nov 6, 2026). This guide walks through a first session from sign-up to the habits that keep answers good and private.

Quick facts

How do I sign up for Claude?

1. Go to claude.ai or install "Claude by Anthropic" from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Continue with Google, or enter an email address and follow the sign-in email.
3. Enter a mobile number and the code sent by SMS. Anthropic refuses VoIP, Google Voice and landline numbers, allows at most three accounts per number, and the number cannot be changed later.
4. Confirm you are at least 18 and in a supported country.
5. Choose the Free plan, or a paid plan under Settings > Billing.

The web app, the desktop app and the mobile apps share one account, so chats, projects and memory follow you between devices (Download Claude).

Your first chat

Type a request in the box at the bottom and press Enter. Plain language works: "Summarize this contract in five bullet points", "Explain this error message", "Plan a three-day trip to Lisbon on a budget". Claude answers in the same thread, so you can push back ("shorter", "more formal", "you missed the second clause") instead of starting over. Each reply has buttons to copy it, retry it, or rate it with a thumbs up or down; a rating sends that conversation to Anthropic as feedback, which it keeps for five years.

Start a new chat for each new topic. A long thread costs more of your usage with every message, because Claude rereads the whole conversation each time (Usage limit best practices).

Picking a model

3:08 The model menu next to the chat box lists the models your plan includes. On Free that is Sonnet and Haiku; paid plans add Opus, and Fable comes with Max, Ultra and Team premium seats or through usage credits on Pro (Plans & pricing, as of Nov 6, 2026). A practical rule:

• Sonnet for most everyday work: writing, analysis, ordinary code.
• Haiku for quick, simple questions; it is the fastest and uses the least of your limit.
• Opus for hard, long or high-stakes tasks.
• Fable for the longest, most demanding work, at a higher cost in usage.

0:15 Newer models also offer an effort setting. Lower effort answers faster and uses less of your limit; higher effort thinks longer (Extended and Adaptive Thinking).

Uploading files and images

2:05 Click "+" at the lower left of the chat box, or drag files in. Claude reads PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, CSV, text, HTML and EPUB files, and JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP images. PDFs of up to 100 pages are read with their charts and graphics; longer ones, up to 1,000 pages, as text only. More on Image and PDF Uploads.

Projects, artifacts and Research

• Projects keep related chats, files and standing instructions together, such as "Thesis" or "Client X". Free accounts get up to five; paid plans get unlimited projects.
• Artifacts open beside the chat when Claude makes something substantial: a document, a small app, a chart, a deck. You edit them by asking, and share them by link.
• Research (paid plans) runs several searches that build on each other and returns a cited report. Turn on web search, then choose "+" > Research (Use research on Claude).
• Web Search lets Claude look things up and cite links, on every plan.
• Memory lets Claude carry what it learned about you into later chats; it is on by default on individual plans and editable under Settings > Your Claude (Memory and chat search).

Writing good requests

1:02 Claude does best with the context a new colleague would need: who the result is for, what it is for, the format you want, and an example if you have one. "Write a 150-word product update for customers who are not technical, friendly but plain, as an email" beats "write an update". If a reply misses, say exactly what is wrong. Prompting Claude covers Anthropic's own advice in depth.

Check what matters. Claude can be wrong with confidence, misread a document or invent a citation; for facts, numbers, law, medicine and money, open the sources it links or verify elsewhere.

What not to share

3:56 On Free, Pro, Max and Ultra, Anthropic may train its models on your chats if "Help improve our AI models" is on under Settings > Privacy; you choose this at sign-up and can change it at any time (Is my data used for model training?). Either way, avoid pasting passwords, full card or bank numbers, government ID numbers, other people's private data, or anything your employer forbids. For a one-off sensitive question, an incognito chat (the ghost icon in a new chat) is left out of your history and memory and is never used for training. More in Is Claude Safe.

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude free to use? Yes. Claude's Free plan costs $0 and includes chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, memory, connectors and artifacts, with usage that resets every five hours and every week (Plans & pricing, as of Nov 6, 2026).

Do I need a phone number to use Claude? Yes. Every new Claude account must verify a mobile number by SMS, and VoIP and landline numbers are refused (Verify your phone number).

Which Claude model should a beginner use? Start with the default model Claude picks for your plan, usually Sonnet, and switch to Opus only for hard tasks, since bigger models use your Claude usage limit faster.

Can Claude see images and PDFs? Yes. Claude reads uploaded JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP images and PDFs of up to 1,000 pages, with charts and graphics analyzed in PDFs of up to 100 pages (Upload files to Claude).

Can Claude make images? No. Claude does not generate photos or illustrations, but it can draw diagrams, charts and interactive visuals in code (Can Claude produce images?).

Why did Claude stop answering? You probably reached your Claude usage limit; the message says when it resets, and How to Make Claude Usage Limits Last explains how to stretch it.

Sources

• Getting started with Claude.ai, Anthropic, Dec 2, 2025 (video)
• Which Claude model should you use?, Claude, Sep 18, 2026 (video)
• What does AI actually know about you?, Claude, Aug 13, 2026 (video)
• Plans & pricing, Anthropic, read Nov 6, 2026
• Get started with Claude, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Verify your phone number, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Minimum age requirement access restriction, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Where can I access Claude?, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Download Claude, Anthropic, read Nov 6, 2026
• Upload files to Claude, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• What are projects?, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use research on Claude, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Memory and chat search, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• How do usage and length limits work?, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Usage limit best practices, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Is my data used for model training?, Anthropic Privacy Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• How long do you store my data?, Anthropic Privacy Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Can Claude produce images?, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026