Apple is making strides to enter the rapidly growing online cooking niche.
The technology powerhouse is taking significant steps to enhance its Apple News+ subscription service, evolving it into a comprehensive publishing platform. A new food section will feature a wealth of content, including tens of thousands of recipes, restaurant critiques, articles on healthy living, and kitchen must-haves, among other culinary themes.
Named Apple News+ Food, this feature is set to launch alongside iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April. It will showcase recipes and articles from well-known publishers such as Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats. Additionally, some select recipes and content will be accessible to users of Apple News who do not subscribe to News+.
Many people have encountered the challenge of balancing their phone while trying to follow a recipe in the kitchen. To address this, Apple has crafted a user-friendly recipe search function that allows users to filter results by ingredients, cooking time, ease, cuisine type, and more.
Once a recipe is chosen, users can mark off what ingredients they already have and what they need to buy. When cooking begins, a dedicated cook mode makes the recipe view full-screen and brightly lit, ensuring users can follow along without needing to unlock their phone. Recipes can also be saved for future reference or accessed offline.
Nonetheless, it’s tough to overlook the similarities between this new food section and the offerings from The New York Times, which has successfully integrated a comprehensive library of recipes into its subscription services.
While some Times brands, such as The Wirecutter and The Athletic, are part of Apple News+, key Times reporting and recipes are absent from that package.
In recent years, Apple has been enhancing News+ with additional features that mirror aspects of the Times subscription model, launching a dedicated sports section (and subsequently a sports app), as well as introducing crosswords and games akin to the offerings of the Times.