Smart Cooking Tech: Thermometers, Recipe Apps, and HomePod Timers on iOS Today

Smart Meat Thermometers

• 🌡️ TempSpike by ThermoPro is highlighted for its dual probes (black and white), USB-C charging, and an integrated display showing cooking temperatures, reducing reliance on a phone.
• 💡 The TempSpike app allows users to select cooking profiles (e.g., beef, fish) and desired doneness, with the device calculating remaining cooking time.
• 🍖 Meater Plus is presented as a Bluetooth-enabled alternative, though its range is noted as less reliable compared to TempSpike.
• 💰 A key advantage of TempSpike is its lower starting price point (around $90) compared to Meater (around $130).

Crouton Recipe Management App

• 📖 Crouton is praised for its comprehensive features beyond basic recipe storage, including meal planning with daily sections and the ability to add notes or random recipes.
• 🌦️ The app integrates a weather forecast into meal planning, influencing food choices based on temperature.
• 🛒 Grocery list generation is a core feature, compiling all necessary ingredients from selected recipes.
• 🤖 Crouton utilizes AI for recipe discovery, creation, tweaking, and importing, aiming to simplify the process of finding and using recipes from various sources.
• 🍳 A hands-free cooking mode allows users to navigate recipes using gestures like winks and mouth movements, useful when hands are occupied.
• ⚖️ The app supports ingredient scaling for different serving sizes and can convert measurements between metric and imperial units.
• 🔗 Crouton can connect with compatible smart scales (like Akaya) and thermometers (like TempSpike or Meater) for enhanced cooking precision.
• ⏱️ For users with Apple Vision Pro, Crouton offers a timer that can be placed within the spatial environment for easy reference.
• 💰 Crouton Plus, an optional subscription ($1.99/month), unlocks AI features and cookbook importing.

HomePod and Smart Speaker Timers

• 🔊 HomePods and other smart speakers can be used to set multiple, named timers for cooking, which is especially useful when managing several dishes simultaneously.
• 🏠 The Home app allows users to view, pause, cancel, or create timers remotely, providing visibility even when away from the kitchen.
• 🗣️ Setting named timers is crucial; otherwise, multiple timers may overwrite each other or cause confusion.
• 🍎 Timers set on smart speakers can interrupt music playback, ensuring alerts are heard, and can be controlled by any household member or device.

iOS 18.4 and New Features

• 📱 The iOS 18.4 update introduces several new features, including Priority Notifications, which aims to surface important alerts at the top of the notification stream.
• 🎨 A new "Sketch" style has been added to Apple Intelligence's Image Playground.
• 👓 An Apple Vision Pro app is now available on iPhone for discovering spatial experiences and accessing device information.
• 📰 Apple News+ now features curated recipes with a special catalog and a cooking mode.
• 🤖 Matter-compatible robot vacuums from brands like Roborock, Ecovacs, and SwitchBot can now be integrated into HomeKit.
• ✨ New emoji have been added, including a face with bags under eyes, a root vegetable, fingerprint, harp, leafless tree, purple splatter, and shovel.