Support

No. Recipes, the menu and the shopping list all work on your iPhone without one. Signing in backs them up, keeps your devices in step, and lets you share a cookbook. The first time you sign in, everything you made while signed out moves into your account.

Tap the account button at the top of Recipes. You can use Sign in with Apple, or type your email and tap Email Me a Sign-In Link. Open the link on the same device, or type the code from the email. If you’d rather use a password, tap Use a Password Instead.

Yes. Go to app.notmybest.cooking and sign in with the same email as in the app, using the emailed link or code, or your password. Your cookbooks, menu and shopping list are the same in both, and changes show up in the app on its next sync. If you only use Sign in with Apple, sign in on the web with the email Apple shares with us. The web version needs a connection, and cooking timers and share links are in the app only.

Yes. Your cookbook is kept on your device, so you can read, cook, edit and plan with no connection. Changes back up by themselves when you’re online again; the account screen shows how many are waiting. The Recipe Library and importing from a website need a connection.

Tap + on Recipes. Type the ingredients one per line, as you would on paper (“2 cups flour”, “1 lemon, juiced”), and the steps one per paragraph. The line under the ingredients tells you how many were understood, and which ones weren’t.

Tap the import button next to + on Recipes. Choose Website and paste the address, Text and paste a recipe from a note or an email, or File to pick a Markdown or plain text file. You’ll see the result in the editor to check before saving. Most recipe websites work; if one doesn’t, email us its address.

On a recipe, use − and + to change the servings, and every amount scales with it. US and Metric switch how amounts are shown, everywhere in the app. The recipe itself isn’t changed.

Yes, of the finished dish and of any step. Take one with the camera or choose one from your library. Photos are resized and their location data removed before they’re saved, and they’re kept on your device so they show offline.

In cook mode, a step that mentions a time (“simmer for 15 minutes”) gets a Start Timer button. For a range like “9–10 minutes”, the timer is set to the shorter time. You can run several timers at once. On iOS 26 they ring like the Clock app’s alarms, even on Silent; the first time, iOS asks to allow alarms. On iOS 18 you get a notification and a Live Activity on the Lock Screen.

Check that alarms (iOS 26) or notifications (iOS 18) are allowed for Not My Best Cookbook in Settings → Apps → Not My Best Cookbook. On iOS 18, a notification follows your ringer and Focus settings.

It already stays on in cook mode. You can change that with Keep Screen On While Cooking on the Cookbook tab.

On Menu, tap Add under a day and choose a recipe or a meal. A meal is a few recipes that go together, made under Cookbook → Meals. You can also add a recipe to the menu from the recipe itself.

Tap This Week on Shopping to add everything on this week’s menu, or Recipe for one recipe. The same ingredient from different recipes becomes one line where the units allow it, with the recipes named underneath, and lines are grouped by aisle. Ticked items move to the bottom.

On the Cookbook tab, tap Invite People, enter their email address and choose Editor (can add and change recipes) or Viewer (can read and cook). Send them the message it prepares. When they sign in with that email, they’re asked to join. Everyone in a cookbook shares its recipes, menu and shopping list.

On a recipe, tap … and choose Turn On Share Link, then share it. The link opens the recipe as a web page at notmybest.cooking in any browser. On an iPhone with the app, it opens in the app with Save to My Cookbook. To stop sharing, choose Turn Off Share Link; the page stops working within a minute. Only owners and editors can turn a link on.

The recipe’s title, main photo, times, servings, ingredients, steps, notes and source link. Not your name, your other recipes, step photos, or anything else in your cookbook.

A collection of more than 70,000 recipes you can search when you need an idea. Open it from Cookbook → Recipe Library. It needs you to be signed in and online. Tap Save to My Cookbook on any recipe to keep your own copy, which you can then edit, plan and shop for.

It’s an estimate. Each ingredient is matched to a food in USDA FoodData Central and its amount converted to grams. The card says how many ingredients it could count; anything it couldn’t match or measure is left out. To improve a recipe’s numbers, open Cookbook → Ingredients, tap an ingredient, and choose the right food. That match then applies in every recipe that uses it. Don’t rely on these numbers for medical or dietary decisions.

Your recipes stay in your account, and are removed from this device. If anything hasn’t backed up yet, the app warns you first.

Tap the account button at the top of Recipes and choose Delete Account. This permanently deletes your account, the cookbooks only you are in, and their recipes and photos. Cookbooks you share pass to another member, so your family doesn’t lose them. If you signed in with Apple, you’ll be asked to confirm with Apple, and the app is disconnected from your Apple ID. If you can’t get into the app, email [email protected] from your account’s address. More in our Privacy Policy.