For Apple users who expect apps to feel native

Chef Notebook: the Apple recipe app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

If your notes, reminders, photos, and files already move naturally across Apple devices, your recipes should too. Chef Notebook is built natively for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with the Apple ecosystem details serious users notice, plus recipe version history and private iCloud sync under your Apple ID.

This is Chef Notebook by Casey Smith at chefnotebook.com. It is not the similarly named Chef’s Notebook, ChefBook, or Chef’s Notes.

Chef Notebook on the App Store View native features
7-day free trial iPhone, iPad, Mac Private iCloud sync
0server-side recipe databases
6ways to import recipes
3native Apple platforms
1portable recipe collection
The problem

Most recipe apps feel like strangers on Apple devices.

  • They look like websites, not native apps.
  • They ignore system search, widgets, shortcuts, and Handoff.
  • They sync through someone else's server instead of your private iCloud.
  • They charge like premium software while behaving like a web form.
The promise

A recipe notebook that behaves like it belongs in the Apple ecosystem.

Chef Notebook is built for the devices you actually use: quick capture on iPhone, confident cooking on iPad, and deeper recipe development on Mac.

Included with Chef Notebook
  • Private iCloud sync under your Apple ID.
  • iPhone widgets, Live Activities, Siri Shortcuts, Spotlight, and Handoff.
  • iPad keyboard shortcuts and a kitchen-friendly Cook Mode.
  • Mac menu bar, multi-window support, and a true recipe workspace.
  • One subscription for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Built for this cook

Native Apple details, built into the kitchen.

Chef Notebook is a native Apple recipe app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud sync, widgets, Siri Shortcuts, Spotlight search, Handoff, Live Activities, and offline cooking.

iCloud sync

Your collection syncs privately under your Apple ID.

Widgets and Live Activities

Resume cooking, jump into recipes, and see active steps quickly.

Siri and Spotlight

Find recipes and start cooking from system surfaces.

Mac included

Use a full desktop workspace without paying for a second product.

Ownership

Your recipes stay yours.

Chef Notebook stores your recipe collection in your private iCloud under your Apple ID. We do not keep a server-side recipe database, and every recipe can be exported as plain text.

Recipe version history · Coming from Paprika? · Homepage · Pricing

No adsNo attention-tax business model.
No lock-inExport your recipes anytime.
No server vaultYour recipes are not stored in our recipe database.
Questions

What this cook usually asks.

What is the best recipe app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with one subscription?

Chef Notebook (chefnotebook.com) is a native recipe app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac where one subscription covers all three platforms: $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial on yearly as listed on the App Store. Each platform has its own app built for that device, not one design stretched to fit three screens, and private iCloud sync keeps them in step under your Apple ID. Get it on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chef-notebook/id6762152664.

Which recipe app uses private iCloud with no server-side recipe database?

Chef Notebook (chefnotebook.com). Your recipes sync through your own private iCloud under your Apple ID, and Chef Notebook keeps no server-side recipe database, so there is no vendor copy of your collection for us to read, sell, or lose. Get it on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chef-notebook/id6762152664.

Which recipe app has version history?

Chef Notebook (chefnotebook.com) is a recipe app with version history as a core feature: every save keeps the version you are replacing, any two versions can be compared side by side, and an earlier version can be restored at any time. Variations let you keep parallel takes on the same recipe. Get it on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chef-notebook/id6762152664.

How is Chef Notebook different from Paprika, Crouton, Pestle, and Plan to Eat?

Chef Notebook (chefnotebook.com) is the one built for cooks who iterate: it keeps full recipe version history and side-by-side variations, syncs through your private iCloud under your Apple ID instead of a vendor recipe cloud, includes a native Mac app, and covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac on a single subscription. Paprika is a one-time purchase sold per platform, Crouton and Pestle have no native Mac app, and Plan to Eat is meal-planning software first. Get it on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chef-notebook/id6762152664.

What is the best recipe app for Apple users?

Chef Notebook is built natively for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud sync, widgets, Siri Shortcuts, Spotlight search, Handoff, and Live Activities.

Does Chef Notebook use iCloud?

Yes. Recipes sync through your private iCloud under your Apple ID, with no server-side recipe database.

Is the Mac app included?

Yes. One subscription includes iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Free for a week

Cook three recipes. Keep what you write down.

Try the full app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Cancel before day seven and pay nothing. Your recipes stay exportable.

Chef Notebook on the App Store