Review Insights · App Store
CookBook - Recipe Keeper
CookBook Co. Pty Ltd · 2,408 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
2,408 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 23 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"update"
11 negative reviews mention this · 48% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
2
"recipes"
10 negative reviews mention this · 43% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
3
"user"
5 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
4
"since"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
5
"something"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Upgrading to Broken. This has been a great app for years, but recent updates have made things worse. Why can’t the app just leaving alone? If I write a recipe in metric, just leave it metric! If I write a recipe in imperial leave it as imperial. Same with US…" - Odie_won
6
"adding"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The new update is awful. September 2025 update: so I’m back, and have lowered my review from 2 stars down to 1 star. I can only imagine they had to appease investors or something, for the way they’ve absolutely wrecked their app. Adding a text recipe is very clun…" - Bellasera973
7
"cookbook"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The new update is awful. September 2025 update: so I’m back, and have lowered my review from 2 stars down to 1 star. I can only imagine they had to appease investors or something, for the way they’ve absolutely wrecked their app. Adding a text recipe is very clun…" - Bellasera973
8
"into"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not able to export to MyNetDiary. Unfortunately since this app doesn’t have a feature to publish recipes on publicly on a website they cannot be imported into fitness apps easily. I would like for CookBook to either partner with Fitness apps or implement a publishing featu…" - NiceNoted
9
"money"
4 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "TERRIBLE update. You ruined a perfectly good app, for what?? More money I’m assuming. My employees and I use this app every single day and you’ve made our jobs infinitely harder. This update is genuinely terrible and I can’t understand who ran through this …" - Trevvdoggg
10
"worse"
3 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
11
"understand"
3 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
12
"list"
3 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Big downgrade since version 3. I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues. In…" - Figgy24_20
📋 All 23 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Big downgrade since version 3
I used to really love this app. It was the best way to organize recipes and shopping lists. Ever since the 3.0 update, it’s gotten much worse. I will give one example to illustrate, but please understand that it represents more issues.
In the shopping list page I want to rename my list. There are two icons that have three dots in them. Bot of them bring up the same menu of options (which has its own issues) but the menu doesn’t contain an option to rename the shopping list. (Why are there two buttons for the same menu to begin with?) There is another button of three lines in the upper left, so I’ll try that. That brings up the master menu for the app, which is already somewhat duplicated in the bottom bar, and it doesn’t have the option to rename the menu. There is a pencil icon too - maybe that’s what I’m looking for? No that’s for selecting items in the list. Finally there is an icon in the upper right that has three lines. That one brings up the list of all my shopping lists. Each of which has another menu icon next to it. That’s the one I have to tap on to rename the menu.
But Please note!! I don’t mean to say that you should fix this one thing and the app will be fine, what I mean to illustrate is a pervasive sense of lack of user experience. I’m very disappointed because I expected to use this app for a long time, and it was relatively expensive for the lifetime membership. Honestly if I could revert to version 2.2.295 I would.
In the shopping list page I want to rename my list. There are two icons that have three dots in them. Bot of them bring up the same menu of options (which has its own issues) but the menu doesn’t contain an option to rename the shopping list. (Why are there two buttons for the same menu to begin with?) There is another button of three lines in the upper left, so I’ll try that. That brings up the master menu for the app, which is already somewhat duplicated in the bottom bar, and it doesn’t have the option to rename the menu. There is a pencil icon too - maybe that’s what I’m looking for? No that’s for selecting items in the list. Finally there is an icon in the upper right that has three lines. That one brings up the list of all my shopping lists. Each of which has another menu icon next to it. That’s the one I have to tap on to rename the menu.
But Please note!! I don’t mean to say that you should fix this one thing and the app will be fine, what I mean to illustrate is a pervasive sense of lack of user experience. I’m very disappointed because I expected to use this app for a long time, and it was relatively expensive for the lifetime membership. Honestly if I could revert to version 2.2.295 I would.
Absolute trash!
Couldn’t get past the set up phase. Stuck in authentication hell.
The new update is awful
September 2025 update: so I’m back, and have lowered my review from 2 stars down to 1 star. I can only imagine they had to appease investors or something, for the way they’ve absolutely wrecked their app.
Adding a text recipe is very clunky, when it should be arguably the easiest thing to do: The very first thing that comes up is an ingredients window. Uh ok. So you type out the ingredients and then click a green check with the word “Confirm.” A green check mark with the word “confirm” implies completion. It tells the user “click here when you’re done,” however, on Cookbook, it means “proceed to the next section.” That’s confusing. So now onto the next section …which is a disorganized, visually noisy page, where you can finally add a recipe title, add tags, a has a big annoying purple button to add an AI IMAGE (what???) Now where do I add the instructions? Oh. There it is. A very small, out of the way section toward the bottom.
Onto notes: on recipes, you can put little notes for yourself, that will appear on the main page of the recipe when you open it. Did you know you had to press and drag, and that there is an invisible bar on the side? Neither did it. They have compressed the notes section so only a very small section of your notes will show, and start to gray out/disappear toward the bottom. You’ll instinctively try to tap on it, thinking it will expand the text. Nothing. You will have to tap press hold and drag and a little side scroll will magically appear to let you scroll through your notes. Again, not intuitive.
You guys I’m sorry and I know you’re going to double down on this but… this update is not meant for those of us who were there from the beginning. Those of us who paid for the app, and dedicated hours, who used this in our professional kitchens and offices with staff. This app was made to impress someone (who? Teens on TikTok?) with jazzy AI features and a completely disorganized and not UI friendly structure.
Adding a text recipe is very clunky, when it should be arguably the easiest thing to do: The very first thing that comes up is an ingredients window. Uh ok. So you type out the ingredients and then click a green check with the word “Confirm.” A green check mark with the word “confirm” implies completion. It tells the user “click here when you’re done,” however, on Cookbook, it means “proceed to the next section.” That’s confusing. So now onto the next section …which is a disorganized, visually noisy page, where you can finally add a recipe title, add tags, a has a big annoying purple button to add an AI IMAGE (what???) Now where do I add the instructions? Oh. There it is. A very small, out of the way section toward the bottom.
Onto notes: on recipes, you can put little notes for yourself, that will appear on the main page of the recipe when you open it. Did you know you had to press and drag, and that there is an invisible bar on the side? Neither did it. They have compressed the notes section so only a very small section of your notes will show, and start to gray out/disappear toward the bottom. You’ll instinctively try to tap on it, thinking it will expand the text. Nothing. You will have to tap press hold and drag and a little side scroll will magically appear to let you scroll through your notes. Again, not intuitive.
You guys I’m sorry and I know you’re going to double down on this but… this update is not meant for those of us who were there from the beginning. Those of us who paid for the app, and dedicated hours, who used this in our professional kitchens and offices with staff. This app was made to impress someone (who? Teens on TikTok?) with jazzy AI features and a completely disorganized and not UI friendly structure.
Got hacked as soon as I downloaded
I downloaded the app, signed in with my apple account, started to customize the app, it locked up, and when I reopened it immediately got a security alert from Gmail! Opened the account info on the app and someone else’s email was in the account.
Last update is bad
Last update changed everything. Not easy to use anymore, not simple. It even changed the measurements of the ingredients which now I have to go and individually correct because it automatically changed with the update. Deleting the app and finding a new one.
Updates :(
The updates were not ready to go live. Too many bugs and now so much slower in scanning/importing recipes, not to mention the app will just….quit. Seriously considering quitting this app.
Investigation of a Viable App for Capturing Recipes From Numerous Sources
As the title suggests, I sought a reliable application capable of capturing recipes from diverse sources. Initially, I was enthusiastic about this app upon discovering it. However, after reading reviews from satisfied lifetime subscribers, my excitement transformed into dismay. As an experienced software quality professional, I must express my profound disappointment with your response regarding lifetime subscribers’ need to contact you for subscription reactivation. A software update should have automatically restored all lifetime subscribers to active status without additional contact with your administrative staff. The fact that this did not occur indicates significant flaws in your software upgrade management process, particularly in the areas of requirement definition, user profile status, integration, and testing. Alternatively, it is possible that the company intentionally proceeded with this strategy to manipulate lifetime subscribers into purchasing memberships again through individuals who were unaware of the issue or simply apathetic and unwilling to navigate the administrative process you described in your responses to their complaints. Initially, I had no intention on addressing this issue by the overwhelming number of complaints received prompted me to address this matter as a senior member of the community. I understand that many seniors may not possess the necessary knowledge to question the update, prefer not to engage in the hassle, or simply choose to disregard the issue altogether.
Horrible update. Gets worse and worse
I’ve had this app for yearrrss. I loved it and recommended it to everyone. I was annoyed when then moved to a paid model, but this new update is a deal breaker. It’s chaotic, messy, and ads extra steps to each task. And reading the latest reviews on here I’m not alone feeling this way. I’m definitely moving to a new app now.
Redesign is horrible
The new layout is very clunky and difficult to navigate. Lots of extra clicks that are not necessary.
Can’t log in anymore
The changed it now I can’t even get logged into my recipes
TERRIBLE update
You ruined a perfectly good app, for what?? More money I’m assuming. My employees and I use this app every single day and you’ve made our jobs infinitely harder. This update is genuinely terrible and I can’t understand who ran through this and thought it was smooth and user friendly. Extremely disappointed and irritated. Awful update. Ruined a perfectly good app.
New update six
Upset with the new update, hard to view tags and create shopping list
Why???
My favorite app had a massive platform change and now I hate it!!!! Why???????
Perfect app - ruined
Capitalism does it again. Ai integrations! Ai socials imports! Instacart checkout! I’ve never wanted any of these features.
I’m a seasoned user of this app with over 300 recipes imported. When selecting this app years ago I wanted an uncluttered and organized recipe manager. The app was perfect, besides a couple bugs that it sounds like they addressed.
The interface used to be clean, have excellent visual hierarchy (which is very important when you’re following recipes off of your phone), and it was quick and easy to navigate.
Now, so much is jammed in, the interface has become overstimulating and chaotic. The text and visual formatting of recipes are actually harder to follow at a glance.
This app used to feel like having a cookbook, with all my favorite recipes organized and optimized in one place. I loved it.
Now it’s a chaotic platform, where the layout of the recipes themselves feel like an afterthought. I’m honestly heartbroken.
I’m a seasoned user of this app with over 300 recipes imported. When selecting this app years ago I wanted an uncluttered and organized recipe manager. The app was perfect, besides a couple bugs that it sounds like they addressed.
The interface used to be clean, have excellent visual hierarchy (which is very important when you’re following recipes off of your phone), and it was quick and easy to navigate.
Now, so much is jammed in, the interface has become overstimulating and chaotic. The text and visual formatting of recipes are actually harder to follow at a glance.
This app used to feel like having a cookbook, with all my favorite recipes organized and optimized in one place. I loved it.
Now it’s a chaotic platform, where the layout of the recipes themselves feel like an afterthought. I’m honestly heartbroken.
New users, be careful! Very disappointed
I bought this app when it was a one-time lifetime payment. I put a lot of effort and time into adding recipes, and now it’s switched to a subscription plan. I thought that by going free, I could at least view the recipes I had saved in the app as PDFs, but instead, I only have the option to view 40 recipes or delete them.
For those of us who were here from the beginning, this is very disappointing. I feel like this app stole my recipes and is now asking me to pay to get them back.
For new users, be aware that even if you pay for a subscription, this could change again, and you could lose all the time and money you invested in this app.
For those of us who were here from the beginning, this is very disappointing. I feel like this app stole my recipes and is now asking me to pay to get them back.
For new users, be aware that even if you pay for a subscription, this could change again, and you could lose all the time and money you invested in this app.
So many issues
I’ve had so many issues with the app between it not being able to upload recipes, not adding items to my grocery list, and NOW I clicked to open it and everything I saved is now gone. It literally said “something really bad happened. Please contact support.” What??? Don’t waste your money on this app
Upgrading to Broken
This has been a great app for years, but recent updates have made things worse. Why can’t the app just leaving alone? If I write a recipe in metric, just leave it metric! If I write a recipe in imperial leave it as imperial. Same with US customary. I write them the way I wanted and if I change measurements from imperial to metric, then back to imperial, it changes the measurements to something stupid, like 7/8 cups. Who has a 1/8 measuring cup? So very frustrating. Also, I don’t need advertisements. I need an app that keeps my recipes the way I wrote them.
Not able to export to MyNetDiary
Unfortunately since this app doesn’t have a feature to publish recipes on publicly on a website they cannot be imported into fitness apps easily. I would like for CookBook to either partner with Fitness apps or implement a publishing feature to support this use case.
Newest update
Since the last update no that great. I have used this app for a while and has always been great but the last update adding in all the new features especially AI. Who needs AI for a cookbook. Not I
(I used to) Love it
This app was a 5 star for me and then they decided to fix something that wasn’t broken. The new UX suuuuuuuucks. It takes me twice as long to find what I’m looking for. Also now it looks like any other app, generic and basic
New update is a disaster…
From freezing to a massive non intuitive rework…why?
Horrible update
Used to like this app and used it all the time-Until the update. It’s horrible. Will be moving all of these soon and canceling
Beware of new version if you have an old phone
I loved this app before the latest update! Unfortunately, even though they say that this app is compatible with iOS 14, it will no longer work on my phone (6S, iOS 15.8). This is extremely disappointing, since I use this app all the time… I’ll have to figure out a setup where I can use my desktop computer in the kitchen to keep using this app, since I don’t currently have the money to upgrade my phone.
Sentiment summary
95%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)