Mela – Recipe Manager 17+
Your personal cookbook.
Silvio Rizzi
-
- Free
- Offers In-App Purchases
Screenshots
Description
Mela is a simple, elegant and modern recipe manager that syncs with iCloud.
SYNC
Sync your recipes with iCloud, either privately (default) or by sharing a recipe library with other iCloud users.
IN-APP BROWSER WITH LIVE PREVIEW
Quickly save a recipe while browsing: If Mela detects a recipe on the currently viewed page, it will be displayed in Mela's native recipe viewer*, on the same screen. Want to add or view a recipe from outside of Mela? No problem, just use Mela's sharing extension.
FEEDS
Subscribe to your favorite recipe blogs to view all the recipes in Mela's native recipe viewer*.
COOK MODE
The cook mode makes it easy to follow all steps while cooking, displayed using a larger font to make sure everything stays readable even when you're not right in front of your device. You can add multiple recipes to the cook mode, easily letting you switch between them.
TIMERS
No need to switch to another app for setting up a timer. When in cooking mode, Mela let's you easily create and manage timers.
SCANNER
Scan a recipe from a book: With the help of text recognition, you can just add it to your personal collection and view it in Mela's native recipe viewer, as any other recipe.
GROCERIES
Mela uses the Reminders.app to manage your grocery list. This has the advantage that you’re always able to access your grocery list on all your devices even if Mela is not installed on a specific device.
CALENDAR
Do your meal planning by using Mela's built-in calendar. It's managed by Calendar.app which also has the advantage that you're always able to access it on all your devices. There's also a widget, showing you the next planned meal from your calendar.
ORGANIZING
Recipes can be organized in categories, marked as “Favorite” or as “Want to Cook”.
PRINTING
Of course, Mela supports printing in case there’s a recipe you want to have on paper or save as PDF.
Please note:
If iCloud Sync is enabled (default), Mela will sync these items with iCloud:
- Recipes
- Browser bookmarks
- Subscription list (feeds)
Not synced:
- Feed recipe entries
- Browser history
Groceries are always stored in Reminders.app
Mela is free to download but will require a one-time purchase to unlock all features.
* Extracting recipes only works for websites that support this, most of them do.
What’s New
Version 2.5
SEARCH
"Web Recipe Search" is a new "Search Engine" option for Mela's in-app browser (see Settings → Browser). It works by searching across various recipe sites and then combining all results into one list. These search requests are done directly by Mela.
MORE RECIPES
Mela’s web recipe importer now supports extracting recipes from video descriptions on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Please note that, as this uses Mela’s ML-powered importer, it’s always recommended to briefly verify the extracted recipe for accuracy.
IMPROVED
- Web recipe importer for various sites
Ratings and Reviews
See AllEditors’ Choice
This exceptional recipe manager makes every part of cooking easier. Organize recipes, create a meal calendar, and create grocery lists—then view instructions using the gorgeous cook mode. Adding new recipes is even easier: Import from URLs, scan from paper, view friends’ shared libraries, or subscribe to your favorite cooking blogs.
Like it, but...
I do really like the interface and syncing options. I've been using the other spice keeper app for a few years now. I tried importing 2 recipes from the web and Mela failed pretty hard. This alone has me at least waiting since that is an important function for me. I really liked the import scanning feature, but the couple hand written recipes I tried it on needed some work to fix. I felt like it needs some improvement in both of these areas. I did notice it said scan a recipe from a book, so that may work better, but I didn't try that yet. I also liked the Cook mode, although I use an iPad for that and both viewing modes looked great. I want to like this app, but there's a few improvements needed before I can justify converting. The star rating would also be a great improvement as I have used that in the past.
Update: Mela uses tags instead of categories, which are doable, but unfortunately there’s no nesting which was a really nice feature of the other app. For instance there could be a top tag of Deserts, but then sub tags of cookies, pies, cheesecakes, etc.
Update 2: After doing some imports, I’ve found a major drawback is no way to edit the recipe before importing. You must import and save the recipe and then go into the app and open the recipe to edit it. Another app I use also imports, but allows you to edit the recipe to make corrections, choose categories, etc before saving it.
Wonderful, Aside from Browsing
Mela has been the best recipe manager I've used of a few. The interface is clean, without a bunch of multi-step fatigue when choosing recipes. The real shine for Mela is the cooking view. On Mac and iPad you have a persistent pane with your ingredients, and a clear view of directions. You can also add multiple timers on the same screen! Other recipe managers I've used aren't any better than viewing a site, so I appreciate Mela being innovative.
If I could change anything about Mela, it would be to allow support for Safari extensions. I don't know whether this is possible, but cooking websites have an aggravating amount of ads and other intrusive data tracking practices. Mela doesn't collect any information, and it would be wonderful if the browser followed the same privacy rules. If I want to support a cooking site I buy their cookbook, online ads are a cancer.
App Privacy
The developer, Silvio Rizzi, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Silvio Rizzi
- Size
- 15 MB
- Category
- Lifestyle
- Compatibility
-
- Mac
- Requires macOS 12.0 or later.
- Languages
-
English, French, German, Italian
- Age Rating
- 17+ Unrestricted Web Access
- Copyright
- © 2021 Silvio Rizzi
- Price
- Free
- In-App Purchases
-
- Mela+ for macOS $9.99
Supports
-
Family Sharing
Some in‑app purchases, including subscriptions, may be shareable with your family group when Family Sharing is enabled. Learn More