Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sizzle?

Sizzle is a privacy-first recipe manager for Android, iOS, and Web. You import recipes from any URL, organize them in a local collection, use the Dinner Spinner to randomly pick what to cook, and generate smart shopping lists. All data lives on your device by default — no account required for core features.

Do I need an account to use Sizzle?

No. On first launch, Sizzle creates an anonymous session silently. You can import unlimited recipes, use the Dinner Spinner, and build shopping lists without ever signing in. An account is required only for cloud sync (Plus tier) and Pro features. If you later want to create an account, go to Profile and tap Sign In — your existing data migrates automatically.

How does recipe import work?

Paste any recipe URL into the import field. Sizzle first tries to extract structured recipe data directly from the page (Schema.org JSON-LD). If the site doesn't include structured data, the SIPS backend parser handles the extraction. Both paths produce the same clean result: title, photo, structured ingredients (quantity, unit, name), and numbered steps. The combined success rate is 90%+. If a URL can't be parsed, Sizzle shows a friendly error and suggests manual entry.

What sites can I import from?

Any cooking website — food blogs, Bon Appetit, Serious Eats, Reddit cooking threads, and more. Recipe sites that embed Schema.org JSON-LD markup parse fastest (usually under 3 seconds). Sites without embedded markup take slightly longer via the server parser. TikTok and YouTube video imports require a Pro subscription and use AI to extract the recipe from the video.

How does the Dinner Spinner work?

The Spinner tab shows an animated prize wheel populated from your recipe collection. Before spinning, you can open the filter sheet to limit the wheel to recipes under a certain cook time, from specific cuisines, with certain dietary tags, or marked as favorites. The wheel spins with physics-based deceleration and haptic feedback, lands on a recipe, and shows a celebration overlay with a "Let's Cook!" button. You need at least 3 recipes to spin. Spin history shows your last 10 results.

How does the shopping list combine ingredients?

When you add recipes to a shopping list, Sizzle merges ingredients across all selected recipes: if two recipes both call for onions, the quantities are summed (e.g., "2 onions" + "1 onion" = "3 onions"). Unit normalization handles fractions and mixed units. Ingredients are then organized by aisle category: produce, dairy, meat, bakery, frozen, pantry, spices. You can add manual items to any list, check off items as you shop, and maintain multiple lists simultaneously.

What do the achievement badges represent?

Sizzle's Fun Shell gamification awards XP and badges for cooking milestones:

• First Bite — import your first recipe
• Recipe Collector — reach 10, 25, 50, or 100 recipes (tiered)
• Spin Master — use the Dinner Spinner 10 times
• Globe Trotter — save recipes from 5 different cuisines
• Two-Week Flame — maintain a 14-day cooking streak
• Iron Chef — maintain a 30-day cooking streak
• Shopping Pro — complete 10 shopping lists

Your cooking streak increments when you perform any cooking action (importing a recipe, spinning the Spinner, completing a shopping list) on a given day. Missing a full day resets the streak. Gamification can be disabled in Profile > Settings if you prefer a clean experience.

What's included in the free tier?

The free tier includes unlimited local recipe storage, URL import from any site, the Dinner Spinner, shopping lists, serving size scaling, and full gamification. Ads appear on the Home and Recipes screens. No account or payment is ever required to use these features.

What does Plus add?

Plus ($2.99/month, $24.99/year, or $49.99 lifetime) removes ads and adds cloud sync across your devices, meal calendar planning, household sharing (share your recipe collection with family members), cooking timers, and data export. Cloud sync also means your recipes survive a lost or broken phone.

What does Pro add beyond Plus?

Pro ($9.99/month, $79.99/year, or $149.99 lifetime) adds AI video import (extract recipes from TikTok or YouTube URLs), OCR scanning (photograph a recipe from a physical cookbook or handwritten card), advanced gamification features, pantry inventory tracking, and unlimited household sharing.

Can I scale serving sizes?

Yes. On any recipe detail screen, tap the serving count and adjust it up or down. All ingredient quantities recalculate proportionally with unit conversion (e.g., tripling "4 tablespoons" becomes "3/4 cup"). The scaled quantities persist until you change them again.

Does Sizzle work offline?

Yes. All recipe data, shopping lists, and gamification progress are stored locally in Drift (SQLite) on your device. The app works fully without an internet connection. Cloud sync for Plus/Pro users requires a connection — changes made offline queue automatically and sync when you reconnect.

How do I use cooking mode?

On any recipe detail screen, tap Start Cooking. Cooking mode shows one step at a time in large, readable text, keeps the screen awake, and shows an inline countdown timer on steps that mention a duration (e.g., "simmer for 20 minutes"). Swipe forward and backward through steps. Tap the X or swipe down to exit cooking mode. Cooking mode is available on all tiers.