Eons ago I purchased The Recipe Manager app at an Apple store and used it for importing/storing/syncing/sharing all of my recipes. For the last year or so I’ve been getting warnings that say “this app needs to be updated, contact the developer.” Well this latest iOS update crippled it and it no longer works on my phone. I’ve contacted the company for more info and am awaiting a reply, but in the mean time I’m holding off on updating any OS on my iPad or MacBook until I find out what’s going on.
I also admit it may be time to research a newer/better app, as this one has been crashy/glitchy. I’ve been patient with it over the years because I have SO many recipes stored and a switch feels daunting, but I may not have a choice at this point.
I downloaded the Paprika app and it crashed right out of the gate, and has not opened once without crashing (I also discovered that it only imports certain types of files, none of which I have). I contacted the company several times for help with no reply, and am giving up on that one.
Any recos? I only have .txt or .doc/x files to work with…
There is an app called Cozi that is mainly for family organization and scheduling, but is also has a recipe area, which I use. (I don’t bother with the other features.)
It’s pretty easy to just copy and paste your recipes into it, and I like the feature that you can install a button on your browser, and it will import the recipe into your PC version of the app, and then automatically sync with the app on your phone.
Unfortunately, future-proofing (or lack thereof) is the main reason I haven’t used an app dedicated to recipes. Is there something in the app that you specifically need? I keep my recipes as text files so I don’t have to worry (as much) about future updates or lack of support. I don’t have that many recipes though. As text, it is searchable from my OS so I can find them even if I file them away in stupid places.
Can you at least get your recipes out of your old app as text (copy and paste)?
You have a point. As I’ve been looking around at other apps, I’m noticing that there’s not much about them that’s universal- all seem to be a bit proprietary in their approach, which makes switching apps a giant pain. Maybe I ought to just keep a giant Dropbox folder with the recipes grouped by category (entree, dessert, grilling, etc) since that’s usually the way I search for something different to make
Yep, I exported all as one big giant .txt file, pasted into Word and batch find/deleted all extraneous text. I suppose I could just leave them all in one big file and search by category (category info is still in there)
I’ve been using MacGourmet for years. I love that when you dig into it, you can edit items like a database. And if you’re just a bit nerdy, you can open the database with external tools, and migrate to something else if need be. So far, I’ve not had a need, but it’s fun playing around with. Most people aren’t like me, though, so YMMV.
I’m in (unfortunately cold) Florida looking after my (unfortunately) sick mom, and took some time to research apps recommended here and elsewhere. I ended up going with Pepperplate, mostly because it’s free and seems to be web-based, which will hopefully prevent the software upgrade issue I eventually ran into with the costly app I had (let’s hope!).
So far I’m loving it. I had no idea how crappy the software was that I was using before. Inputting recipes seems to be a (relative) snap, it auto-syncs with my devices (which my other app didn’t do- it crashed during manual syncs on the regular, which was a giant pain), it looks nice, and sharing seems to work pretty well.
It bums me out that photos are a bit problematic. For some reason I can’t upload photos on the desktop web version, so I’ve had to email photos to myself and attach using the PP app on my phone (yeah, I’m the dummy who needs the pretty picture to go along with my recipes :D). And I notice that when you share a recipe, the photo doesn’t travel along with it, which also makes me sad. But hey, everything else seems to make up for that.
Thanks, everybody.
P.S. I have a library of over 350 recipes from my other app. I have 117 transferred so far. Fortunately I enjoy rote, detailed projects like this. It’s a slog for sure, but hopefully it’ll pay off over the years. Fingers crossed!
P.P.S. I tried the Dropbox thing, but quickly learned that if you want to search the full document of recipes, you have to download it every time, and the search results preview was impossible on my phone (if I word-searched by “entree” I couldn’t see the title of the recipe, only partial text before and after that word). So I had to abandon it altogether.
P.P.P.S. I just solved the desktop photo upload thing with Pepperplate: I had to enable flash in my browser. Done.
P.P.P.P.S. I forgot to include my experience with Paprika. I did consider that app based on user reviews. Tried contacting them with file importing questions ahead of paying $$ for the app and got no reply, but I went ahead and purchased it anyway. Crashed right out of the gate, every time. I troubleshot for days. Tried contacting them again, again, agin, no reply. So I disputed the charge with my credit card company. Well, iTunes didn’t like that and banned my credit card for life. Talked to several managers at AppleCare and no bueno. Enough to make me want to never use iTunes again, but I have everything Apple, and I recognize I’m basically a slave.
