Since 2014, we’ve been committed to providing you with high-quality connected cooking through the Anova Culinary app. It’s been thrilling to bring sous vide cooking into your kitchens and see the #anovafoodnerd community grow. We love being part of the journey, from your first sous vide cook to your latest culinary experiment.
As our community has grown, so have the demands on our resources. Our community has literally cooked 100s of millions of times with our app. Unfortunately, each connected cook costs us money. So, to continue delivering the exceptional service and innovative recipes you’ve come to expect, we’re introducing a small subscription fee for our app. The new Anova Sous Vide Subscription will allow us to maintain and enhance the app, ensuring it remains a valuable resource for all of our users. Here are the details:
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Who will this impact? Only new customers will have to pay for a subscription. Existing customers who have an account with us before August 21st, 2024, will not be charged a subscription fee. To be an existing user, you must have downloaded our app AND made an account in the app before August 21st, 2024. In the event you are an existing user, you will be grandfathered in to free usage of the app. You helped us build Anova and our intent is that you will be grandfathered in forever.
If you don't currently have an account but are using the app with your Bluetooth-connected cookers, after August 20th, you'll be asked to create an account in the Anova app so that we can automatically give you legacy / grandfather status and continued access to the full features of the app.
- What does it cost and what do customers get? The subscription will cost $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year USD. What you get with a subscription will vary from product to product, but in general, here’s what it includes:
- Anova Sous Vide Guides: Learn the basics with guides created by our experts. Choose your preferred level of doneness and press start to get cooking.
- Cook Notifications: Remote updates on your cook status.
- Recipe Discovery: Find recipes from award-winning chefs, #anovafoodnerds, and more.
- Recipe Saving: Bookmark your favorites and share your recipes with friends directly on the app.
- When will this go into effect? This subscription will go into effect on August 21st, 2024. Again, if you already have an account with us and purchased a product prior to August, 21 2024, there will be no change in our service for you.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support. Our mission is to change the way the world cooks and this subscription will help us to continue on with this mission. We are excited to keep cooking with you and can’t wait to see what you create next!
Stephen Svajian
Co-Founder and CEO
370 comments
I have an Anova sous vide and have for almost a decade. I am thankful that I can use the device manually without the app because the app did not always perform as advertised. The circulator worked great, I just needed to set an old-fashioned kitchen timer for different phases at different temperatures. Had I been told that using the device would require an absurd five dollar monthly fee in addition to not working as intended, I NEVER WOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE DEVICE. Dumb cookware works just fine. I can still read a recipe and turn a knob. Your smart cooker function (like all of them) is overrated. The hardware device is worth the money – but not the software. If future devices require a connection and a subscription, I WILL NOT PURCHASE THEM.
Adding another voice to the “never again” chorus here. I have been buying Anova products since 2014, the most recent being the vacuum sealer, and I’ve been planning to purchase the oven even in spite of the frequently reported issues with the newer firmware.
Given this inane decision I have to assume Anova is not long for this world, certainly not stable enough to spend $600 on a countertop oven.
I’d invite you to ask yourselves: if the app is not included with your circulators, but rather a separate purchase, what exactly do you think makes your devices worth the price premium being charged?
What an absolute garbage decision. Bluetooth connectivity did not require your server, didn’t require you to spend any ongoing finances to support it, and yet you’re completely blocking it now and requiring people to use wi-fi and pay you for the privilege. No thanks. Your pittance of offering people grandfathered access is an absolute disgusting attempt at bribing people to ignore your garbage business practices. When my anova dies I’m replacing it with a Breville, and I’ll never recommend your brand again.
This is an unbelievable rug pull that I didn’t expect from a company like Anova. I used to evangelize how good the product is to friends because it just worked and was easy to use. now I’m going to be telling them to stay away and look elsewhere. They’ve shown their true stripes and who knows what they will do next.
I’ve had my first gen Anova since the year it was released. Love it, use it weekly. Bought at least 4 more as gifts and recommended it to many others. Thought the partnership you had with Kenji and Serious Eats was brilliant, effective marketing that showcased your products and educated consumers at the same time.
Now I won’t be spending another dime on your products and certainly would never suggest a friend invest in a product with a transparently greedy subscription-based cash grab to enable basic functionality.
Well done, Anova. Master class in how to completely torch a reputation in one fell swoop.