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The Almighty Buck Software

Smart Sous Vide Cooker To Start Charging Monthly Fee For 10-Year-Old Companion App (arstechnica.com) 122

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Anova, a company that sells smart sous vide cookers, is getting backlash from customers after announcing that it will soon charge a subscription fee for the device's companion app. Anova was founded in 2013 and sells sous vide immersion circulators. Its current third-generation Precision Cooker 3.0 has an MSRP of $200. Anova also sells a $149 model and a $400 version that targets professionals. It debuted the free Anova Culinary App in 2014. In a blog post on Thursday, Anova CEO and cofounder Stephen Svajian announced that starting on August 21, people who sign up to use the Anova Culinary App with the cooking devices will have to pay $2 per month, or $10 per year. The app does various things depending on the paired cooker, but it typically offers sous vide cooking guides, cooking notifications, and the ability to view, save, bookmark, and share recipes. The subscription fee will only apply to people who make an account after August 21. Those who downloaded the app and made an account before August 21 won't have to pay. But everyone will have to make an account; some people have been using the app without one until now.

"You helped us build Anova, and our intent is that you will be grandfathered in forever," Svajian wrote. According to Svajian, the subscription fees are necessary so Anova can "continue delivering the exceptional service and innovative recipes" and "maintain and enhance the app, ensuring it remains a valuable resource." As Digital Trends pointed out, the announcement follows an Anova statement saying it will no longer let users remotely control their kitchen gadgets via Bluetooth starting on September 28, 2025. This means that remote control via the app will only be possible for models offering and using Wi-Fi connectivity. Owners of affected devices will no longer be able to access their device via the Anova app, get notifications, or use status monitoring. Users will still be able to manually set the time, temperature, and timer via the device itself.

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Smart Sous Vide Cooker To Start Charging Monthly Fee For 10-Year-Old Companion App

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  • After the first 10 minutes of reading about sous vide how much ongoing support do you need ?
    • Re:10 minutes (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:30PM (#64712696)

      This is just a gateway for them to start charging you a fee every time you cook a sous vide meal. The enshittification will continue until nothing works and society collapses.

      • by kick6 ( 1081615 )

        This is just a gateway for them to start charging you a fee every time you cook a sous vide meal. The enshittification will continue until nothing works and society collapses.

        You will own nothing, and you will be happy.

        • Re:10 minutes (Score:4, Informative)

          by ls671 ( 1122017 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:41PM (#64712720) Homepage

          LOL, no app is required for that and no "smartness" required either. As a chef, I used "sous-vide" in a restaurant I worked at:

          Basically:
          1) We had a heated water containers with thermostats to keep temperature constant. You could probably do it in an oven or on the burners as well.
          2) Put "sous-vide" bags in the water. You may use cheap 5$ mechanical timers if you wish but can easily go without them.
          3) Remove bag when ready to serve.

          Furthermore, the picture in linked TFA with the raw steak in the bag looks silly. You usually cook items conventionally then put them "sous-vide" afterward so it conserves longer.

          Then, you use the hot water recipient to warm them up then open the bag to serve. That was in a 5 stars restaurant.

          The most expensive component is the vacuum pump machine to put the items "sous-vide" in the first place and no smartness nor apps is required to run those machines either.

          • Re:10 minutes (Score:4, Insightful)

            by dinfinity ( 2300094 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:51PM (#64712746)

            with thermostats to keep temperature constant. You could probably do it in an oven or on the burners as well.

            This is the entire point of sous vide devices. How the fuck would you do that properly in an oven or on the burners, without basically building your own sous vide device?

            • by Khyber ( 864651 )

              Found the person who only eats out.

              See, it is trivial to just use a burner on Low after you bring your water up to desired temperature. Oven's a little bit different due to the drastic difference in thermal conductivity of air vs direct contact with a burner, but still workable.

              • You're talking out of your ass. Maintaining the exact temperature without a control system for a significant period of time without interacting with it regularly is hard. Even for dedicated sous vide devices the stability of the temperature is not always perfect. This is the main thing that separates the good ones from the bad ones. Ovens and burners are not made to keep the temperature as stable as one wants for sous vide.

                I regularly sous vide things that need to stay at or very near to 55C for 96 hours. Y

                • by Khyber ( 864651 )

                  "You're talking out of your ass"

                  My tax history would like a big fucking laugh at you. Started in a Chinese restaurant at the age of 15. I've had over a quarter of a century of cooking experience, professionally.

                  "Yeah, tell me how you're going to do that with your approach"

                  It's really fucking easy - you buy a stove that doesn't use a timer for burner power control. Those can keep precise temperatures.

                  Any further questions, oh ignorant one?

                  • It's really fucking easy - you buy a stove that doesn't use a timer for burner power control. Those can keep precise temperatures.

                    How? Tell me how you keep the water at max 55C and min 53C.

                    Describe the process instead of saying "it's really fucking easy".

                    • by noodler ( 724788 )

                      How? Tell me how you keep the water at max 55C and min 53C.

                      With a heat sensor hooked up to an arduino, hooked up to a heating element maybe?
                      Maybe some sort of propeller to distribute the heat faster?
                      You seem to be so fucking dumb that you think a centuries old mechanism is basically engineering magic.

                • by noodler ( 724788 )

                  You're talking out of your ass. Maintaining the exact temperature without a control system for a significant period of time without interacting with it regularly is hard.

                  You're talking bullshit. These types of control systems have been created for hundreds of years. It is not hard. Water has an extremely high heat capacity so keeping it at a particular temperature is pretty trivial, especially if you insulate the container well.
                  It is not a hard problem to solve well for a couple of tens of dollars with current tech. If you bought a system that doesn't work well then you were duped by an amateur wannabe engineer that doesn't know what they're doing.
                  A sous vide pan is just a

            • Anything with a thermostat is a good start for a sous vied device.

            • by noodler ( 724788 )

              This is the entire point of sous vide devices. How the fuck would you do that properly in an oven or on the burners

              Fuck, you're so incredibly dumb. You put a pan of water in an oven, then set the temperature of the oven to 55C.

          • A sous-vide machine is not only heating the water with a thermostat, but also circulating it to ensure the temperature is uniform within the water container.

            That's why they're also called "water circulators".

          • by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Well, that is what you do if you have a clue and some skill. Now try it without both to find out why this product has a market.

            • by ls671 ( 1122017 )

              I guess you are right. Anyway for me there is no market in the first place but for the average consumer, maybe there is.

              I just don't see it. Sealed pressure cookers (so food don't dry out while slow cooking) have existed for ever to accomplish what some have told they accomplish on this thread with full cooking "sous-vide".

              Anyway, in my OP, I stated that I used "sous-vide" only to reheat foods conventionally cooked and only in one place where I worked. They had a lot of bus tour customers who would order at

              • by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Quite frankly, I do not directly see it either. And I am just an amateur in the kitchen. But from observation, I can model people and then it makes sense. I still have no clue how people can be this incapable, but observation shows they typically are.

          • by piojo ( 995934 )

            LOL, no app is required for that and no "smartness" required either. As a chef, I used "sous-vide" in a restaurant I worked at:

            Basically:
            1) We had a heated water containers with thermostats to keep temperature constant.

            I have made a sous-vide setup. It did not work well. And any machine that does not include circulation will not work well. Even a sous-vide machine with broken circulation will have a several degree temperature difference at different parts of the basin. A sous-vide machine that bundles PID controlled heat and circulation will maintain temperature within a fraction of a degree.

            In other words, I'm not doubting your story, but it does not work at home when your recipes are not designed for that specific setup

          • LOL, no app is required for that and no "smartness" required either. As a chef, I used "sous-vide" in a restaurant I worked at:

            Just to be clear, even in this case with this product in question no "smartness" is required either. I haven't used the Anova app since maybe 2 weeks after I bought the immersion heater. It was a gimmick and I don't think anyone not under the influence of some drug would consider paying $10/year for it.

            • by Strider- ( 39683 )

              The app is useful when you’re doing long cooks and want to keep an eye on things even when you’re not in place.

              We were doing pulled pork while out boating this past weekend. Circulator and bucket with the pork shoulder in it were sitting down on the boat in the marina, while we were up on shore enjoying happy hour. Something happened and tripped off the circuit breaker feeding the circulator. Buddy got a notification on his phone that this happened.

              We also left it running overnight on the dock.

          • Furthermore, the picture in linked TFA with the raw steak in the bag looks silly. You usually cook items conventionally then put them "sous-vide" afterward so it conserves longer.

            The only thing truly silly is criticising the way other people do things without understanding it. No you most definitely do *NOT* cook a steak first and sous-vide it afterwards. I would walk out of a restaurant which served me that piece of soggy arse sad steak. You sous-vide it raw then cook it after to form a nice caramelised crust. This is literally the only way anyone would ever recommend cooking a steak.

            As a chef

            You don't deserve to call yourself that. Not after this post. You've demonstrated you have no clue

          • As a chef, you should be able to recognize that you can cook things from raw to cooked in sous vide, as that's the entire point of these devices.

            You are using them to keep things warm, and that's a fine use. But it's not the only use, and you should probably know that.

          • You'll never get the crust crispy with that method. It makes for perfect steaks though. Vac-seal a marbled steak with some Pepe Saya cultured butter, put it in a bath of 50C water for 2 hours, then pull the steaks, reserving the butter/beef juices - keep them warm, ~40-50C, and then heat a cast iron skillet until red hot, sear the fork out of the steak on both sides, barely 30 seconds/side, then serve with finely chopped flat leaf parsley and the reserved butter/beef mixture. Do this outside unless you have
      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        The enshittification will continue until nothing works and society collapses.

        Looks like it.

      • by qeveren ( 318805 )
        So what you're saying is that we're in the Starsector timeline.
    • It's ok, you probably don't even use their app anyway because their shitty wifi chipset in the device can't even deal with a mesh network properly. It will disconnect and never connect again until you power cycle it, and then you might get another 2 minutes of it working.

      This company makes sous vide cookers that do the basic task you're looking for very well - keeping water at a specified temperature for long periods of time. If you want anything more than that, look elsewhere because their product engine

      • Agree. I have had one for about 10 years and the app canâ(TM)t even set the basic time and temperature settings reliably. Itâ(TM)s also not a great method of cooking. Sure your meat may not have a temperature gradient, but thereâ(TM)s no flavor from browning reactions. Cooking a steak once on high heat is so much better and less effort than cooking it in water, then drying it thoroughly, then cooking it again. I mainly use it to reheat frozen vac sealed bag of leftover bbq cooked on the smo
        • Which is why I get the best of both worlds by doing a reverse sear - cook to desired temp / doneness in sous vide, and then give it 3 min per side with butter on a super hot cast iron pan to get the browning reactions and "crust".

  • Don't, just don't (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:39PM (#64712714)

    Do not purchase anything that requires a subscription app to accompany it. You have the power to tell these fucking companies enough is enough.

    • by jonwil ( 467024 )

      Except that when people bought this product it didn't require a subscription for the app and now it does.

      • And from this point on don't purchase their product. They'll get the message and back-track. When this happens enough other companies will also take notice.

      • I can understand not RTFA but not RTFS!?

        From the summary:

        The subscription fee will only apply to people who make an account after August 21. Those who downloaded the app and made an account before August 21 won't have to pay. But everyone will have to make an account; some people have been using the app without one until now.

        So, no, if you bought it before August 21st, you don't have to pay (though you have to set up an account, which is a bit sketchy).

      • by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        If the app communicates via a hosted server instead of directly with the device then it's only a matter of time before that server gets shut off or you have to start paying for it.

    • I've read the suggestion that any home appliance that could be reasonably used without access to wifi or mobile data should never be purchased having wifi or mobile data installed on it. It's just an opportunity for someone far away to spy on you or brick your device.
      • by Bert64 ( 520050 )

        Absolutely, but it's more complicated than that.

        If you have the device at home and you're out somewhere, how does the mobile app communicate with the device?
        Some users are still stuck with legacy IP behind one or more layers of NAT, even those who do have IPv6 are generally encouraged to block inbound traffic with a firewall, and it can be a hassle opening up a port. So you get a service which is designed for both the client and device to make outbound connections to a central server.
        This then creates the o

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Isolation is the key. Rather than have my oven connect to WiFi and tell me when the timer reaches zero, I just put a cheap energy monitor with hacked open source firmware on its plug. When the energy consumption drops to a few watts, I get a notification. Same with the washing machine, although that needs to sit at idle for at least a minute because it does pause for a few seconds sometimes.

      • I've read the suggestion that any home appliance that could be reasonably used without access to wifi or mobile data should never be purchased having wifi or mobile data installed on it. It's just an opportunity for someone far away to spy on you or brick your device.

        It used to be reasonable to assume parents were actually parenting. That a father figure was in the home, or at least a willing member on the family tree. That kids upon appliance-operating age, had a reasonable amount of common sense from upbringing.

        OK, OK I’ll stop. Sorry about the uncontrollable laughter. I’ll wait til you catch your breath, but you see my point. *snort*

      • I've read the suggestion that any home appliance that could be reasonably used without access to wifi or mobile data should never be purchased having wifi or mobile data installed on it. It's just an opportunity for someone far away to spy on you or brick your device.

        Good suggestion for the paranoid. But three things spring to mind:

        1. For devices on your home network you can control the data flow even if it is smart. Isolate it if you don't want it talking outside the network. Most devices do not have mobile data - that is an ongoing cost for the manufacturer.
        2. If someone remotely bricks your device that would be the end of their company. Hell look at the incredible backlash Sonos got for giving the users the *option* to brick their devices, something they rapidly roll

    • Do not purchase anything that requires a subscription app to accompany it. You have the power to tell these fucking companies enough is enough.

      The thing is... you don't. Anova doesn't have a single product which requires the app to function. I honestly don't know what they are thinking. I have both the device and the app in question and I haven't used the app for years.

    • Actually you can shorten that statement to reach my rule of thumb:

      Do not purchase anything that requires an app
    • Buying a device with a subscription for the app sounds more sustainable than expecting a company to keep up with the maintenance of an app for 10 years. Iâ(TM)d assume theyâ(TM)d drop a free app at some point leaving me with a device that canâ(TM)t even be used as a brick. Software maintenance isnâ(TM)t free, for example, Apple change and drop APIs all the time forcing apps to be updated to continue running. Personally, Iâ(TM)d avoid buying an appliance that requires an app at al

    • There was no subscription. You can't expect all customers to understand that the app that accompanies the device isn't connecting over Bluetooth or something similar.

      These kind of things aren't something we can leave up to the free market it generally requires legislation.
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Do not purchase anything that requires a subscription app to accompany it. You have the power to tell these fucking companies enough is enough.

      More accurately, do not buy anything that requires an app to work.

      They'll promise that it'll be free forever and then change their minds as soon as they think they have a large enough install base to milk. Any device that cannot be operated independently of a network connection is not yours to own.

  • by SoonerPet ( 893902 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:42PM (#64712726)
    There was a time long ago when I thought having an app for products was a nice thing, it let you do more technical things easier on occasion. However, at this point in my life, after seeing all the horrible companies close down, discontinue apps, remove features and putting already available features behind paywalls, I am now firmly in the NO APPS camp. If your product has to connect to my phone or create an account for anything, I’m not buying it. It’s now such a huge negative and red flag at this point.
    • There was a time long ago when I thought having an app for products was a nice thing, it let you do more technical things easier on occasion. However, at this point in my life, after seeing all the horrible companies close down, discontinue apps, remove features and putting already available features behind paywalls, I am now firmly in the NO APPS camp. If your product has to connect to my phone or create an account for anything, I’m not buying it. It’s now such a huge negative and red flag at this point.

      If it makes you feel any better, next years smart cooker will come with its own secondary hardware device. To load the app on.

      Don’t worry though. It’s not like EVERY other manufacturer would follow sui, oh wait. Fuck. Nevermind.

    • I don't think that is a problem if the device connects locally over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Or if the app is just incidental. My CPAP machine has an app but it's completely irrelevant and kind of pointless.
  • Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in subscription based kitchen appliances and wouldn't waste my money on them. Never the less, as long as the packaging accurately informs the customer of the app and the fact it has a fee I dont see what the problem is since this change won't effect current customers. I imagine there are plenty of cookers that don't require an app if one doesn't want it.

  • Use a pot with water and control the temperature within a degree or two. If you want, get a bluetooth thermometer that allows you to set alarms or simply get a good fast reading thermometer and check periodically. After a while you kinda know when to adjust and how much; with some money saved you can spend on a good cut of meat.
    • Use a pot with water and control the temperature within a degree or two. If you want, get a bluetooth thermometer that allows you to set alarms or simply get a good fast reading thermometer and check periodically. After a while you kinda know when to adjust and how much; with some money saved you can spend on a good cut of meat.

      Good luck checking it ovenight.

    • A PID controller, thermocouple and a submersible heating element are cheap. so is a circulating pump that can work up to water boiling point. I used these and a huge food grade tote wrapped in insulation to sous vide whole briskets, turned out great
    • by samdu ( 114873 )

      Doing it on a burner would take a LOT of attention, assuming you could get a burner to maintain temperature to any degree of constant accuracy at all. When I started cooking sous vide, I did, however, use a cooler. Bring water up to temp, fill cooler, fidget with opening/closing cooler until the temperature is correct, put food in cooler, close lid, wait. Even that took a lot of attention. Had to put enough hot water in when the temps dropped too low to bring it back up and the like. It's possible (check ou

      • Doing it on a burner would take a LOT of attention, assuming you could get a burner to maintain temperature to any degree of constant accuracy at all. When I started cooking sous vide, I did, however, use a cooler. Bring water up to temp, fill cooler, fidget with opening/closing cooler until the temperature is correct, put food in cooler, close lid, wait. Even that took a lot of attention. Had to put enough hot water in when the temps dropped too low to bring it back up and the like. It's possible (check out Serious Eats for some good guides), just not remotely as nice as using a dedicated circulator.

        Oh I agree tech can make things easier; I use a controlled fan on my smoker because it is easier than trying to set the vent perfectly. It's not necessary though, despite what all the companies selling $200+ water pumps tell you.

  • by Rick Zeman ( 15628 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @06:54PM (#64712760)

    I can see Louis Rossman's blood pressure going up already.

  • by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @07:08PM (#64712794) Homepage

    If you buy a "Smart"-anything, then you are dumb.

    • For some products, like refrigerators, toilets, and self-tying shoes, I totally agree. But there are products where a "smart" version makes sense.

      Home sprinkler systems and programmable thermostats are notoriously difficult to set up. An app can be pretty helpful for these. And who _doesn't_ have a smart TV any more? If you have a Roku, you are the proud owner of a smart TV, and it seems to be a good application of "smart" hardware.

    • That's an interesting take. How did you make this post? Did you dictate it to someone else who typed it on a smart phone, or a highly complex computer?

      The reality is many smart devices can be used like dumb devices. For example there's this company producing smart immersion cookers called Anova (you may have heard of them, if not scroll up) and their products work completely fine without any app what so ever.

      So why would I be dumb for buying a product simply because it comes with a completely optional and p

      • So why would I be dumb for buying a product simply because it comes with a completely optional and pointless companion app?

        Thou passeth judgement too easily.

        Would you be smart for buying that same appliance two years from now at 150% markup, because all models come enabled with that “pointless” companion app that’s now mandatory?

        Don’t be ignorant as to where this is going. Pass judgement wisely.

        • Would you be smart for buying that same appliance two years from now at 150% markup, because all models come enabled with that “pointless” companion app that’s now mandatory?

          Don’t be ignorant as to where this is going. Pass judgement wisely.

          Except that trend hasn't been happening. Consumer good prices have been trending down compared to the cost of living. Even smart ones. I still remember spending 200EUR for my first sousvide machine. My friend just bought an Anova along with all the "smart" functionality (which she's never used), about 1/3rd of that - and it performs better too.

          No one is *paying* for smart functionality.

  • by ebcdic ( 39948 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @07:20PM (#64712808)

    ... and I have never felt the slightest need for the app. Set the temperature on the device however long before you want it to be ready, and leave it.

  • Sure, you can control your pot remotely - but given that you're cooking something, you'll want to be in close proximity regardless. So it seems like all the app is doing is saving you from walking 15-20 feet a few times, max.

    So why not just use the controls that are actually on the device? And the corollary is - why not just buy the cheaper, non-"app-enabled" equivalent device in the first place (which is usually made by another company that's been around a lot longer than the "app" one)?

  • by Gramie2 ( 411713 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @08:28PM (#64712880)

    I made a sous vide cooker with a temperature controller (~$20 on Amazon) that controlled an electrical outlet. The sensor went into my slow cooker, and turned it on when the temperature was low, off, when the temperature was high.

    Here are some examples [instructables.com]

    • by piojo ( 995934 )

      I have done something like this, but the response delay will mean you have a pretty huge temperature swing. You could not use this approach for something sensitive like making yogurt, and I'm skeptical that it would even work for rare-medium rare steak.

      Though these days I make yogurt by heating it to 49 C, inoculating, wrapping the carton in a blanket, taking it out after 90 minutes or so, and finally leaving it in a warm room until it gels. The temperature descent works better than keeping it at a constant

      • For $10 extra you can get a PID control unit instead that solves the problem. The OP shouldn't use On/Off control for this.

        • by piojo ( 995934 )

          Yes, but at that level of cost and complexity you are better off buying a cheap sous-vide unit. Aesthetics alone would point toward a single unit unless you are going for industrial-chic. Plus, and I don't know the right word for it, you need something more specific since a classic PID controller will ruin anything temperature-sensitive when it overshoots.

          • Set P lower to start and integrate over a longer time.

            • by piojo ( 995934 )

              Really? I thought you needed to integrate over a shorter time, so disturbances (putting a pack of frozen meat into the system) don't build up a huge debt to be burned off.

              I don't think PID controllers are for amateurs except for the love of it. For a water bath with circulation and a probe in the water, things are at least tractable, because the thermal mass is huge and there is no delay. For a cooker I would want to write something like a PID autotuner (I'm sure these exist) that would try to prevent overs

  • by Grog6 ( 85859 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @09:19PM (#64712954)

    This is why I only use open source software, or write it myself.

    • Why? Because someone charges for a completely pointless and unneeded app? Before you get your pitchfork out it's worth noting that none of Anova's products actually need the app. The app is a recipe lookup device that sends the temperature setpoint to the immersion cooker for those people presumably who have no fingers and can't just push the button on the cooker to set the temperature themselves.

  • Maybe I'm confused here... the appliance doesn't actually depend upon the app to operate, right? So this companion app just provides guidance, recipes, and timers? So just don't pay for the subscription and you still have a perfectly functional appliance. Is this worth an article?

  • by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Friday August 16, 2024 @10:07PM (#64712990)
    I have an unconnected immersion heater that works just fine without an app. The only reason I'd like Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity is that the built-in beeper isn't loud enough to hear if I'm outside the kitchen watching something or listening to music. This means I have to use a timer of some sort, to know when it's been cooking long enough. This isn't really a big deal IMHO though, mankind has been timing our cooks for tens of thousands of years. I don't need an app that tracks my usage habits and sends them off to god knows where that'll just end up stolen or sold off.
    • I have an unconnected immersion heater that works just fine without an app.

      I have a connected smart immersion heater from Anova ... that works just fine without an app. Everyone is getting the pitchforks out without actually understanding the product being discussed.

      The app is a recipe app, its "smart" functionality is - send the temperature to the device, a feature which scientists have called "completely fucking pointless". No one sane would pay $10/year for this app. ...

      No one sane would pay $10 once off for this app.

  • ...if you do shit like this at home.

    And more dollars than sense.
  • I am rapidly coming round to the notion that nobody should be allowed to be CEO or director of a public company without having passed some kind of test to show that they are not a brain-dead dumbo who will endanger the customers, employees, or the public.

    Because how the hell do the people in charge at Anova not realise that their device will get hacked instantly? When users have physical access, there can within hours be a free open-source app available that totally replaces the requirement for their pa
    • I am rapidly coming round to the notion that nobody should be allowed to be CEO or director of a public company without having passed some kind of test to show that they are not a brain-dead dumbo who will endanger the customers, employees, or the public. Because how the hell do the people in charge at Anova not realise that their device will get hacked instantly? When users have physical access, there can within hours be a free open-source app available that totally replaces the requirement for their paid piece of shit. All the Anovans need to do is piss their customers off sufficiently. I am no genius, but even I can see three or four points of vulnerability.

      ”Any attempts to circumvent or modify the operation of the device or how it is controlled, will immediately void your warranty.”

      Hope you have a genius answer for the Chef who just paid $400 for a glorified water heater element, because that one-line EULA is probably all it would take to deter 99% of owners. Not exactly a screaming market of demand for sous vide hacking.

      • Neither I, nor any of the Makers and Repair Cafe people I meet, would pay any heed to an EULA. More interested in finding a way to force the gadget to do its job. Flipping the bird at the manufacturer is a bonus, not the central point.
  • I have this device and I never tried the app or any remote connection to it. All the controls are on the unit, so the app is not at all necessary.
  • My smoker/grill has a similar app. It drives me absolutely insane. All I want to do is control/monitor my grill. That's it. I don't want recipes. I don't want accessories. I don't want consumables. I want to check/adjust the temp setting and monitor the temp probes. All the rest of it is useless, expensive, noise.
  • I logged in to ensure that I still have an account to be grandfathered only to find that my device's wifi ABD bluetooth wonâ(TM)t be supported by the app next year. So Iâ(TM)m offered 50% off an upgrade!

    So they are going to block connectivity two different ways!!!

  • Their app has ruined my appetite.

  • This may be painfully difficult to understand but no one needs all this incredibly wasteful waterfall of expensive delicate appliances to prepare even a gourmet meal.

    The way to win is not to play.

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