Cards in the chat

When the answer is something to look at, Conch shows it as a card in the chat instead of a paragraph. Ask the way you would ask a friend; the card appears under what Conch did, and the reply adds only what you asked: which one to pick, and why.

Every card works with every provider you connected.

Shopping

"Find me a gooseneck kettle under €100." Conch searches, reads the shop pages and shows a shelf of products: photo, price (a struck-through old price and the discount when there is one), stars, whether it's in stock, and the shop.

• Press a photo to see all of its pictures.
• Press the heart to keep one on your shortlist for this session.
• Choose Compare and pick two or three to see them side by side; the best in each row is marked, in words too.
• Ask about this puts a question in the message box. Nothing is sent until you send it.

Music and podcasts

"Play Bohemian Rhapsody." Conch finds it in Apple's catalogue and shows the cover with a player. Press play to hear the preview; drag the bar or use ← and → to move through it. Several results are a track list.

Podcasts play whole episodes, with 15-second and 30-second skips and speeds up to 2×. Only one thing plays at a time. Scroll away and a small player stays at the bottom of the chat; your keyboard's media keys work too. Links open the same song in Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube Music.

Videos

"Show me how to shape sourdough." Conch finds videos on YouTube or Vimeo and shows the first one large, with the rest beside it. Press play and it plays right there. Theater makes it as wide as the chat (Esc leaves), and full screen works too.

Nothing loads from YouTube or Vimeo until you press play.

Weather

"Will it rain in Lisbon tomorrow?" The card shows the sky as it is there now, the temperature, the next 24 hours and up to 10 days. Drag along the hours (or use the arrow keys) to see any hour; let go and it returns to now. UV, air quality, wind, sunrise and sunset are there too, each in words as well as colour.

Recipes

"A recipe for tomato rice." The card has the photo, the times and how many it serves.

• Press − and + to change the servings; every amount changes with it.
• Tick ingredients off as you go.
• Times in the steps ("simmer for 20 minutes") are timers: press one to start it. It keeps running while you scroll, and chimes when it's done.
• Cook mode shows one step at a time in large type, with its ingredients and your timers, and keeps the screen awake while it's open.

Places

"Coffee near the Louvre." The card shows a map with numbered pins and a list: what each place is, how far, and whether it's open now. Pressing a place in the list or on the map shows its address, hours, phone and website, with Directions in Apple Maps, Google Maps or OpenStreetMap. Drag the map to move it, and zoom with the buttons, a pinch or + and −.

"How far is Brighton from London?" shows both, and the distance as the crow flies.

People, things, links, books and shows

• Who or what something is: a card from Wikipedia with a picture, a short summary (Read more for the rest) and key facts.
• Links: ask Conch about a few links, and each one gets a preview with its picture, site and title.
• Books: covers on a shelf, from Open Library. Press one for its details.
• TV shows: posters, ratings and when the next episode is, from TVmaze. For films, Conch shows a Wikipedia card.

What leaves your computer

Each card asks only the service it needs, from your computer, with no cookies and nothing about you:

Pictures on cards are copies Conch keeps with the chat. Your browser never loads them from the web, so a page Conch reads can't learn anything from them. After Conch has read a web page in a chat, it asks you before a lookup that could carry what it read somewhere else.