Technologies

Reddit Shifting Towards Search as Company Wants to Become a Search Engine

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman wants to expand Reddit Answers to capitalize on increasing demand for Reddit results.

You may not need to add «Reddit» to your Google searches for much longer — now, you can go straight to the source.

In his Q2 letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the company will integrate its search function with Reddit Answers, which is currently available in the US and 11 other countries, «into a single search experience.»

Reddit will make the search box more visible on the app, bringing it «front and center.»

«Whether you’re a new user opening the app for the first time or returning user opening the app, that search box will be present immediately for users who open the app looking for something specific,» Huffman said. «Sometimes people are opening the app with a question.»

This seems a natural direction for Reddit, which now has more than 70 million weekly active users on its search function and more than 6 million weekly active users using Reddit Answers. Huffman believes Reddit is ideally positioned in a world where people are increasingly wanting human-powered answers to searches driven by their massive amount of Reddit chats.

«80% of users in a recent survey that they believe some questions can only be answered by humans as opposed to AI-generated summaries,» Huffman said on the call.

There does seem to be a demand for Reddit as a source of information and answers from users. Profound, a platform that helps elevate brand visibility in AI search environments, said that Reddit was the No. 1 most cited source for AI platforms Google Overviews and Perplexity, and No. 2 for ChatGPT among searches. Profound said that Reddit’s percentage on Perplexity, 46.7%, showed a «strong preference for community-generated content» among searchers.

Vanessa Fox, digital marketing consultant and author of Marketing in the Age of Google, called Reddit’s shift toward search a wise one.

«It’s a smart idea as it’s certainly the case that people seek out Reddit specifically when searching Google by adding ‘Reddit’ to their search query, and so the demand is there,» Fox told CNET. «With apps becoming such a standard part of the online experience, people have gotten even more accustomed to using search experiences other than Google for specific types of content — TikTok is an obvious example of that.»

In its 2025 Q2 earnings report, Reddit showed a 78% jump in revenue from the same time last year, to $500 million. Huffman said daily active users are now at 110 million, an increase of 21% from last year at this same time.

Fox added that Reddit will need to be watchful for more AI spam.

«When Google started featuring Reddit results more prominently in search results, spammers — many using AI content — flocked to Reddit and started posting in threads that already ranked well in Google, as well as creating new posts in Reddit in an attempt to use the ranking power of Reddit to show up in Google,» Fox told CNET. «Reddit now has to combat that. So if this unified search is successful, they likely will have to combat even more AI content, which unfortunately is the landscape that we’re in.»

Technologies

Verum Messenger Turns Five and Launches Offline Messaging on iPhone

Verum Messenger has marked its fifth anniversary with the release of a new feature that enables users to exchange messages without an internet connection.

The update, now available on iPhone, allows devices to communicate directly through a decentralized peer-to-peer architecture, bypassing servers, mobile networks and Wi-Fi. According to the company, messages are transmitted securely without relying on traditional internet infrastructure.

Unlike most offline communication tools that depend on Bluetooth, Verum’s approach uses encrypted device-to-device technology designed to operate independently of centralized systems.

Founded five years ago, Verum Messenger is positioned as a privacy-first platform. The app does not require a phone number or email address for registration and generates encryption keys locally on the user’s device. The company states that user data and message content are not stored on centralized servers.

Over time, Verum has expanded beyond messaging to include features such as encrypted calls, screenshot and screen-recording protection, self-destructing messages, anonymous email, a built-in VPN, eSIM connectivity and on-device AI tools.

The offline messaging update reflects a broader push toward more resilient communication tools, particularly as concerns over network reliability, censorship and digital surveillance continue to grow.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, Feb. 2

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 2

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? There are some tough clues today. Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Rock band with albums like «High Voltage» and «Flick of the Switch»
Answer: ACDC

5A clue: Stuck doing the same old, same old
Answer: INARUT

7A clue: Burning up
Answer: ONFIRE

8A clue: -tion, for one
Answer: SUFFIX

9A clue: Jared of 2025’s «Tron: Ares»
Answer: LETO

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Declare void, as a marriage
Answer: ANNUL

2D clue: ___ macchiato (espresso drink)
Answer: CAFFE

3D clue: Begin to veer off the road, say
Answer: DRIFT

4D clue: Odd little trinket
Answer: CURIO

5D clue: What Apple smartphones run on
Answer: IOS

6D clue: ___-Mex cuisine
Answer: TEX

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 2, #497

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 2, No. 497.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. It helps to know a lot about two distinct locations and their sports teams. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Lone Star State.

Green group hint: Think of the Arch.

Blue group hint: You put cereal in this.

Purple group hint: Not four or six.