Are you serious about your product?

Hi,

I’ve had my Anova device for a month now, and I’m very happy with the APC itself.
What bothers me a bit is the lack of features in the app. The app, honestly, feels like it’s still in a beta mode (and I’m talking about the stable version, not the beta version that is available in the Play Store).

There’s issues in the Guides categories, there’s issues with the timer. Issues with WiFi (disconnects, and reconnects and sometimes it looses track of the timer that is set), the look and feel of the app is kinda sad compared to your competitors. And I can see that A LOT of these issues has been addressed in here - some of them more than a year ago! And your response to most of them are that “It will be released soon in an update!”… but nothing has happened, as far as I can read in the topics.

Your product - the hardware itself, is in my opinion the best out there. So I find it really sad that it seems like you’re not really prioritising the software/firmware. If there’s a major bug, like the timer issue, it should be pushed out fast.
I’m working as a software developer - working with the backend of an app. And we are a team of 5 people. So I know what it means to work in a team, working on an app, with an app (frontend) and a REST backend (as far as I can read from some hacks that has been made out there, your device works with some kind of REST webservice). So I am a bit disappointed that a company with a product like yours, can’t manage to send out app-updates on a 1-2 week basis, when there are bugs that has been reported months/years ago.

Are you about to make a complete revamp of the app, or what? Or what is the reason that you seem to care so little about the app-side of your products?

I also read a topic about releasing a public API so people could make their own apps. Seems like that has been cancelled as well? Or what?

It’s sad, because I really like your product. But… It sucks that I am using 2-3 other apps, and the normal timer on my phone to use your device, rather than using the Anova app, only.

Please don’t take this as me being super angry or annoyed with your product. I’m just a bit disappointed with your app, because your product (hardware) is so good! I expected more from the app, I guess. And I’m also disappointed with your answers in here, promising a fix, and then nothing happens for 1 year.

Have a nice weekend!

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Well said…

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I concur. Very well put.
And I’m also one of those people having a software development background who would still love to see a release of an API - no matter how unpolished. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed.

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I have only had my APC for a couple of weeks but I have to agree with this post. In just two weeks I’ve found the app to be very buggy and not very user-friendly. I’m already just manually setting my cooks through the device itself. The app feels very much as if it’s in a beta state.

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Hey Kenneth!

Sorry for getting back to you a few days late on this. I have been sick, and wanted to give a coherent response to your post.

I just want to start by saying that I understand where you’re coming from regarding our app. By no means is it perfect and there are some pain-points. However, I do want to ensure everyone that my team is working very hard to iron out some of the existing issues and implementing new feature requests.

I really appreciate your candor and I totally get your position. As the community manager, I do want to make sure our community is happy with our products and has a seamless experience - from unboxing their Anova Precision Cooker to making awesome dishes, over and over again.

Feedback I see here does get reported back to the rest of my team on a regular basis. Let me touch basis with the team and find out any ETAs or app details.

-Alyssa