Latest Anova "screw up" news AUG 2024, GRANDFATHERING & SUBSCRIPTION CHARGE

Looks like they are trying a different tack & a partial climb down…
Anova have not posted this here in the forum, so assume any discussion to take place on this thread lest it gets too disjointed on multiples…

READ THE UPDATE IN THE LINK FIRST PLEASE Update: Existing Users Grandfathered in; New Users will Pay a Small App Subscription Fee – Anova Culinary

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Considering this does not mention anything about the older model being taken out of the loop / or carrying on after the clear & evident anger amongst users (esp reddit) without context older gen users must surely come to the conclusion that in 1 year the announcement is as what went before.

I’m waiting to hear from the people with ovens, barely functioning, crashing, never worked properly, dead after a few years units that will question the audacity of the company that will also end up likely charging for a janky oven app!

Also, would that be one sub or two that was needed for 2 items (SV stick & oven)?

Not sure my comment on the announcement was actually posted, but what an inane idea. I’ve been planning to replace my older circulator, and considering buying an oven once the firmware got a few more updates. Neither of those is going to happen now. Mostly just thankful that the chamber vacuum I bought last year doesn’t have an app in the first place.

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Oh but it does…

Right on their own support page: https://support.anovaculinary.com/hc/en-us/articles/27322197681165-The-Original-Anova-Precision-Cooker-Bluetooth-Bluetooth-WIFI-remote-connectivity-sunsetting

And I quote from the bottom of their own article

What will happen with my device?

After September 28th, 2025, your Original Anova Precision Cooker or Precision Cooker Bluetooth+WI-FI will see the following features removed:

Remote cooking via iOS or Android App
App Notifications
Status monitoring

PURPOSELY butchering everyone’s devices, without even considering simply allowing local-control when you’re at home via your own LAN connection.

If they are going to purposely butchering it, including Bluetooth (Bluetooth costs nothing for them to “maintain” as far as servers go if they want to go as far as saying that it’s costing them money for people to remotely control their sous vide… Then put out a firmware update or update the app to only allow remote control if you have their monthly ripoff subscription fee, but still allow Bluetooth. They could have easily allowed leaving theBluetooth functionality enabled so people could still use their phone at home to control it or get notified, but nope.

I think this is just a huge greedy moneygrab. Glad I have a Joule sous vide and not Anova.

I will NEVER buy or suggest Anova to anyone because of this kind of greedy corporate money grab.

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As an owner with an older precision cooker who found this (sorry) news today I am left wondering if the “grandfathering” applies only for existing purchases or also to new purchases by grandfathered owners. I’ve raised a support ticket and will update here, but if I buy a discounted new unit to have app support and then have to start paying a subscription the value proposition for any Anova appliance vanishes.

Comms on these changes have at best, show an amazing ineptitude.

Absolutely, there is no proper clarity on a variety of aspects surrounding this shedding of customers.

I asked on 2nd august & the crap show that Anova CS tends to be (errors & ignorance) means zero reply, asked them to self refer as form of complaint, “nothing”.

And this is how it has always been unless you get really lucky or speak to the actual manager not the minions, Anova is concerned about cash costs, well there is money to be saved by using proper technical CS not the 1 size fits all idiocy route they chose.

I don’t think that if the oft touted “scientific” instrument statement & “precision” dialling in of temps is what we bought into if the only variables we have are half a degree c in either direction
compared to being able to set within 1/10th c standard really qualifies now as the ability is literally now dialled in wide of the mark.

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I have received the following response to my enquiry from Customer Support. Still not sold on staying with an Anova product - would probably get a Joule if starting over except they’re unavailable from Breville in Australia :frowning:

Since you are grandfathered in you will have full access to the app upon purchasing the new cooker and you will not be asked to pay for the subscription fee.

I don’t see it as a money grab at all. Bluetooth IS evolving; we went from Bluetooth 4.2 back when I was playing with Bluetooth mice and keyboards to Bluetooth 5.30 for further distance and vastly improved music connection. Time moves on. And how many people pay more than ten bucks for a couple cups of StarBuck$ sludge every day, not to mention all the subscription TV channels people can’t seem to do without—$9.99 a year is nothing.

Gary I agree. $10 a year is reasonable. Small companies create a product and as time goes on costs go up. Amazon Prime started at $79 annually and now it’s $139. I love my Anova oven.

So you haven’t noticed that support ends making the older units limited temperature settings wise then?

An optical mouse comes with a removable bluetooth receiver widget, which could have been designed in & made interchangeable behind a silicone seal, I would have applauded them for trying something like that, so would a lot of people if it assisted longevity of the product, or even if they said from now on as well as the discount offered removable (upgradable) bluetooth usbs would be part of the design going forward, that would have been seen as acknowledging the difference between then & now & closing the gap for all incoming generations, not such a big deal, but we haven’t got anything like that.

The subscription works IF your anova is of a generation that it matches with, older gen folks connectivity is being dropped altogether.

Your reply only addresses half the problem sir!

Well, you can still use the cooker in manual mode. I never thought it was all that exciting to have to look up someone else’s recipe just so I could have the app do the oh, so tedious manual setting for me.

I’ve had my Precision Cooker for 8 years now. Manual mode isn’t really an option anymore as the dial is nearly useless, so I’m relegated to using the app to set temps and cook times. And for no apparent reason they’ve decided that my unit will no longer be supported in the app.

When the time comes that I can’t connect, I will try one of the competitors and hope they don’t feel like rendering their older devices obsolescent.

Have you tried spraying / dripping an electronics grade degreasant (also doubles up as hand sanitiser) Iso-propyl into it to get some response back from the scroll wheel?
Not general rubbing alcohol as that is lower grade, proper medical grade, printer head grade, etc would be fine though.

You never know.

I signed up on 16 Aug to be my grandfathered. I own three devices. Grandfathering didn’t work. I get prompted to pay for a subscription. What a screwup by Anova. Looks like my future devices will be Brevilles.

And here I was thinking about getting a newer circulator and the chamber vac. Just found out about this after switching to a new phone and logging into the app. Not sure if I’d kept using it on my old phone if I’d just never have known until it was intentionally hobbled. I’ll not be buying the items I planned to and will never be using this company again. I’ll also be updating a strong warning to stay away to all the people I’ve evangelized this to, over the years. What an incredibly dumb way to alienate early adopters.

How long you owned the app for your machines?
Because I was not on my original email & had it changed over as there was proof of the app / email tying with anova.
Switching across should be easy.

Popping this here, wish Anova would answer questions rather than **it on people with hyperbole & silence thereafter.

No manual interface? (incoming model dependent on APP only) so you are now beheading the wand, creating e-waste?

Not buying any more therefore if that is the direction (luckily have multiple repaired units now & a new one set aside to carry on my grandfathered account & allow for manual setting for as long as I can, I stuck with you because you were the first out of the starting blocks where the wand style was concerned, but in terms of maintaining that standard in the face of generic-rip-offery this is a bit like dropping the lead that the Nissan Leaf had with the gen1 BEV, only to absolutely screw the pooch with the gen 2 & “rapid-gate” (which was never fixed)

And creating a headless stick wand, reliant on your customer service & a paid for app!?.. If you can get the software to stay connected, which it frequently needs resetting, you can simply dial in a temp & times, but you insist on taking that safety net away too.

Smart tech design? Should have just given us all a USB port & a removable mouse type Bluetooth receiver to upgrade & replace with for ongoing connectivity, we could have understood that, charged an upgrade fee & be done with it, it would have meant more sales based on solid design that if the unit is working it remains viable, meaning you would be the first port of call for an eventual replacement & had far more brand product recommendations from happy customers,

When are you going to lock people out of the website recipes to make a point, also affecting those who aren’t online, mobile cooking in a camper van, or at their off grid cabin? (no-one from Anova has said this will be there in perpetuity after all)
(saving offline pages in advance doesn’t necessarily work, esp if you pass a supermarket, pop in on a whim & come out loaded with bargains you just want to scout time & temp solution.

You just made the cross contamination bacterial carrying element of sous vide easier on the basis of phones going “everywhere” with us including the toilet.

So much for at a glance assured accuracy of the KITCHEN tool, people now have to completely rely on a phone having enough juice & an expensive to maintain monthly Internet connection, … Phones break, phones get lost, & if someone I’m cooking with needs to know time remaining, temp stability as I pour in more water for a second cook at a lower temp, they also now need my pass code to my phone, risking my privacy elsewhere!?

Facial recognition, fingerprint ID, 8 digit number unlock? making this a one person in a family kitchen tool?.. Unless they take out a family subscription maybe?

At this point I wouldn’t put it past you

No more, I’ll be home in 50 mins, pre heat the water to 60 c & bang in the sausages, because they are shut out of the loop.

So much for business acumen Anova. I doubt Bill & Co will be back to talk us through this one somehow eh!? …because you seem to favour Reddit in a hit & RUN format with zero follow up for the stragglers, & you never grace these pages, so often we are in fact the last to know! …thanks for that BTW.

Is your new tag line “Anova, …anything but smart” for the rebrand? :thinking:

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sigh

My APC 3.0 and my account appear to be grandfathered in…although I hold my breath each time I turn it on to see if the app and device actually connect.

I haven’t fired up my 2nd gen APC bluetooth/Wi-Fi unit yet. I’m guessing it will have been wirelessly beheaded, and if so I’ll be joining the ranks of those who are truly disappointed in Anova. I get that their business model didn’t anticipate people holding onto their APC’s for years, expecting ongoing service, with no new income stream to support it. But frankly that should have been baked into the business model from day one; disabling a $100+ piece of consumer gear because you no longer like the business model you created and promoted aggressively to the general public is bad mojo, and NOT a way to win the hearts and minds of consumers. I’m a bit embarrassed now that I promoted an praised Anova to friends and family…and frankly I won’t be doing that any longer – or if I do, they’ll hear the full story and understand the risk they’re taking by spending money on any of these products.

Disappointing… I’ll use my APC 3.0 as long as it continues to be supported. I do NOT intend to pay a subscription at this point, unless the entire market is stuck in that direction. If I need a new sous vide cooker, I’ll be revisiting all the products and reviews out there to see what alternatives are available. It’s a shame - I like the product and features. I don’t like paying for something, and having the T’s &C’s changed on my after the purchase.

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