We'd like to share that we've released a beta version of the Android app and we'd love to get your thoughts on it. We've been working to incorporate many of the features and suggestions we've received from our iOS app users into the official release. While we continue working toward the app's official launch, we'd like to invite our community members to give the beta version a try and ask that you share your experience with us and how we can make it a better experience for you. We appreciate all of your patience and understand the frustration that the wait has caused and we're truly sorry for the delay.
Once again, please remember that the app is currently a BETA RELEASE! That said, feel free to share your thoughts - questions - concerns - feedback - etc. on the beta and tell us what you would like to see and what you think would make the official app more useful to you in the comments below. For unrelated app questions, please feel free to shoot me a private message. You can check out the beta release here:
The App installs fine on Nexus 5, loads up and runs.
2 Things have been holding me back, No native Android App. Only thing left is feeling like I am getting ripped off if I don’t get one one the $50 off codes.
@MJWII Thank you for your feedback! Regarding the 5GET50 - have you tried purchasing with any of the daily codes yet? We’ve got new ones up each morning and we’d love for you to snag one so we can get you precision cooking!
First of all, thank you for the app! I’m definitely looking forward to having more control over my Anova Precision Cooker. That being said, I’m not a big fan of “Recipes” being the default screen. That’s something I really don’t foresee myself using. I’d really like to see the default screen be a Status screen with the ability to set temperature via a keypad, and turn the unit on and off. It would be nice to also have a timer that would fall back to a user definable holding temperature when it expired. Profiles could potentially be useful to people as well. As things move forward I’d recommend avoiding flashy graphics and focusing primarily on intuitive functionality and utility.
I agree with @Yamabushi , having other peoples’ recipes as the app entry default is too limiting. Imagine going into a club and being told you can only dance in a particular way, and if you don’t want to dance that way then someone else will control your legs.We need easy to find manual control!
@Yamabushi Thanks for your feedback - glad you've had a chance to use it! So you're saying a more straightforward feature, such as a basic and stripped down remote to control the device would be more useful to you? You made some great suggestions, I'd love to hear more about what you'd like to see as you continue testing out the beta app. Could you also share how you would want to be able to utilize a profile if it were available? Thanks again!
@Simon_C Bahaha that analogy is awesome. I would not be keen on a club where my freedom to dance in my own awkward fashion was oppressed! So to confirm, were you able to locate the manual control and the issue is more with how it's currently set up?
I like the built-in recipes, but I feel that there should be three home screens with a button that flips between them, one “recipes”, one “basic items” and one “manual”. The “basic items” should be things like “chicken breast”, “chuck steak” etc, possibly with number of serves and weight/thickness and target serving time. The “manual:” should have target initial temperature, initial cook time, secondary temperature, secondary cook time. For each, loud and vibrating alarms when target temperature is reached along with cook time completion. Then it would be an awesome app!
I’ll echo other’s comment here in that we should at least have an “always on top” menu item above the recipes that is “user profile” (or similar) that allows the user to include a list of time/temperature “macros” with custom names (e.g. boneless chicken breast, pork tenderloin, etc…) that we can add to. While I suspect many people use the excellent recipes Anova has compiled, we all have our own favorites… Otherwise I have to say I rather like the app…
@Yamabushi Thanks for your feedback - glad you've had a chance to use it! So you're saying a more straightforward feature, such as a basic and stripped down remote to control the device would be more useful to you? You made some great suggestions, I'd love to hear more about what you'd like to see as you continue testing out the beta app. Could you also share how you would want to be able to utilize a profile if it were available? Thanks again!
Yes, a more stripped down remote would be my strong preference and primary usage case, and IMO that should be the default screen. Things like Recipes, Profiles, and whatever other functions should be alternate screens. Regarding the idea of profiles, I suppose in a way it wouldn’t be too different than idea of recipes except it would be completely user definable/programmable. An example would be something like cook at a particular temperature for a programmable period of time and then drop to a programmable holding temperature.
Just play with it right now and I am struggle to find the way to set the temperature and time. I like the pictures on the recipes but I don’t want to go thru the recipes just to set the way I want. I had the “Nest” thermostat and love the simple interface. Just have 2 circles: one for temperature, one for time. Click on temperature will get to the page of setting, same with time. Maybe you can add a button to add more steps after finishing the first line. For example: set 150F for 1 hour. After that set 200F for 2 hours, etc…
Alarm/notification sounds when it is done is great too since I am in the back yard lots of time and can’t hear Anova beeps
The recipes are great and should be organized in a pull down menu.
Love the Anova. It helps me with time and serves my family healthy, yummy food. No more steak in the restaurant. I can prepare healthier and better with the Anova. Thank You and keep up the good work.
First of all…¡Great! Thanks so far!
App installed quick and pain-free on LG G Pad 8.3 and was easily paired. I’m guessing that only Fahrenheit seems available since this is the beta?
Agree with all that recipes ARE fabulous and really great but should preferably be organized on other screen and also agreeing on the home screen being better off as a controller screen and it would be absolutely fabulous if it included a function to save (and name) settings to be used as personalized presets. Because in the end we don’t need to break out the app to set time and temp… the controls on the APC are super easy to use… But if I’m happy with a certain result it would be easiest if I can just access my saved presets to select “my perfect 30mm ribeye” instead of having to look up whichever chart/recipe/other resource I used… or worse… like I often do… forget which one I used so next time is just as much an experiment as the first… :-?
So that would be my perfect app… home screen = controller screen with save option - one screen for recipes - and one screen with personal presets…
@Simon_C Yes, I think that would be a really great help! Time / temp and recipe basics have been popular suggestions and they both would increase the utility of the app. Can you elaborate on the target initial / secondary temp and time? Not sure I understand but it could just be my morning brain. The push notifications for preheating and cook finish should help to serve as the alerts but I think you mentioned them in association with initial / secondary manual cook time / temp, correct?
Is it possible to put this beta version on the Amazon marketplace? I have a Blackberry that can use Android apps. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this, but I can’t download from the Google Play Store, because I don’t own an Android.
@heychubs Let me check on this and get back to you. That’s a great suggestion. Which OS are you running and which device do you have? I don’t think the app isn’t optimized for Blackberry but it may work.
@jordan That would be awesome! I have a BlackBerry Passport running OS 10 version 10.3.1.1372. As far as I know any OS 10 device greater than 10.3 can run about 95% of Android apps. They built it that way to help compete against a shrinking apps market for BlackBerry users. If you can get it on the Amazon Marketplace website, I can let you know soon enough if it works.
@jordan I was thinking about my experiment with multi-stage cooking. Higher temperature items such as carrots first, then cooling the bath for lower temperature items such as chicken. It’s OK to put food in a water bath while you’re waiting for it to come up to temperature, and I know the leeway you get with cooking duration is one of the most appealing aspects of cooking sous vide, but for busy mid-week dinners when you need to rattle along at a fair clip, an alarm when the cook time is finished would be very useful. As others have mentioned, we’re not always in the same room as the Anova when the cook finishes and the unit’s beeps often go unheard. Unlike when warming the bath up, it’s not advisable to place the lower temperature second part of the meal into the bath until it has cooled to the correct temperature, so an alarm would be helpful for that too.
While I think of it, maybe the next model Anova could incorporate a heatsink and fan to help cool the heating element (and thus water) quicker than ambient entropy?
