Starting August 21st, 2024, Anova, the well-known brand for sous vide cookers, will introduce a subscription fee for new users who wish to use their mobile companion app. This subscription, priced at $1.99 per month or $9.99 annually, is designed to allow users to control and monitor the cooking appliance remotely from their smartphones.

Existing Anova customers and anyone purchasing a device before the August 21st cutoff will still be able to access the app’s features for free, but they will need to create an account to do so. This requirement is new, as account creation was previously optional.

Although all of Anova’s sous vide cookers can operate without the app, the paid subscription offers enhanced functionality. Depending on the model, users can remotely start cooking, adjust temperatures, receive cooking updates, and access recipes, including bookmarking and sharing options.

Anova’s CEO, Stephen Svajian, mentioned that the decision to introduce these fees stemmed from the increasing demands of their expanding user base. He explained that maintaining and improving the app has become costly due to the high volume of users and cooking sessions. The fees are intended to help support these ongoing costs.

The decision to charge a subscription has sparked mixed reactions, with some users expressing frustration in the blog post’s comments. However, Anova opted to keep the hardware prices stable and instead give users the choice to pay for additional features, as pointed out by Digital Trends.

Overall, the subscription model offers a flexible solution, allowing new users to decide if they value the extra features enough to pay for them. Existing users, meanwhile, can continue enjoying the same features at no additional cost.