Help & FAQ

No. You can start using ChefMate right away as a Guest - no account, no sign-up needed. Guest mode gives you full access to recipe browsing, search, and most features.

If you want to save your favourites, meal plans, and grocery lists between sessions, creating an account ties that data to your profile so it stays even if you close and reopen the app.

ChefMate supports three options:

• Sign in with Google - available on all devices
• Sign in with Apple - available on iPhone and iPad only
• Continue as Guest - no account required, start immediately

No. Everything - your favourites, meal plans, grocery lists, and preferences - is saved locally on your device only. ChefMate does not upload or sync your personal data to any server.

Yes, but your data doesn't sync between devices. Because everything is stored locally, your favourites and meal plan on one phone won't automatically appear on another. Each device has its own separate set of saved data.

Go to Settings and tap Sign out at the bottom of the page. You'll be returned to the sign-in screen.

There are a few ways to find recipes:

• Home screen - scroll through Featured, Popular Today, and category rails
• Search bar - tap and type a dish name or ingredient
• AI Mood Search - switch to AI search and describe what you feel like eating
• Discover tab - browse by category or cuisine
• Pantry Mode - enter your ingredients and get matching recipes

AI Mood Search lets you describe what you're in the mood for in plain language. Tap the search bar, switch to AI Search, and type something like:

• "Something warm and filling for a cold night"
• "A quick meal I can make in 20 minutes"
• "Light and healthy, maybe with chicken"
• "Comfort food, no vegetables"

The AI will interpret your description and suggest real recipes that match.

Recipes come from TheMealDB, a large community-maintained database of thousands of meals from cuisines all over the world. AI-powered features suggest which of these recipes match your mood or ingredients.

Yes. On any recipe page, tap the heart icon to save it to your Favourites. Saved recipes appear in the Favourites tab and are available even when you're offline.

Yes, when available. On the recipe detail page, look for the Watch button. Not every recipe has a video, but many do. Tapping it opens the tutorial directly in the app.

Pantry Mode helps you figure out what to cook using the ingredients you already have. You enter your ingredients - by typing, scanning a photo, or uploading a picture - and the app suggests real recipes you can make right now.

There are three ways:

• Scan with camera - point your camera at your fridge or counter and the app identifies ingredients
• Upload a photo - choose an existing photo from your gallery
• Type manually - tap "Add manually" and type each ingredient

You can mix and match - scan first, then add extras by typing.

Each Pantry Mode search uses an AI service with usage limits. To keep the feature free for everyone, a short 1-minute cooldown is applied between searches, and a daily limit resets at midnight.

Yes. Inside Pantry Mode, tap the history icon to see a list of your previous ingredient searches and the recipes they produced.

Open any recipe and tap Add to Meal Planner. Choose which day and meal slot (Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner) and it will be added to your plan.

Yes. In the Meal Planner tab, tap the + button to add a custom meal. Type your own title and assign it a day and slot.

Yes. Open a recipe from your meal plan and look for the Add to Grocery List option. You can add the full ingredient list or just the items you still need.

• From a recipe - tap "Add to Grocery List" on any recipe page
• Manually - go to the Grocery List tab and tap + to type your own items

Tap any item to toggle it as checked. Checked items move to the bottom with a strikethrough so you can easily see what's left.

Swipe left on an individual item to remove it, or tap the Clear all icon at the top of the tab to wipe the whole list.

Go to Settings → Reminders and toggle on Meal reminders. ChefMate will send you a nudge at 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM each day.

Make sure ChefMate has notification permission:

• Android: Settings → Apps → ChefMate → Notifications → Allow
• iPhone: Settings → ChefMate → Notifications → Allow Notifications

Then go back to ChefMate Settings and toggle your reminders back on.

Go to Settings → General → Appearance and select Dark. You can also choose Auto to follow your phone's system setting.

Go to Settings → Language and toggle between English and Filipino (Tagalog). The app updates immediately.

ChefMate needs an internet connection to load recipes. If you're connected but recipes still won't load:

• Pull down to refresh
• Close and reopen the app
• Try again in a few minutes - the recipe service may be briefly unavailable

Your data is stored only on your device, so it can be lost if you cleared the app's data, uninstalled ChefMate, or signed in with a different account. Because data is local, there is no way to restore it once deleted.

Make sure the app has camera permission:

• Android: Settings → Apps → ChefMate → Permissions → Camera → Allow
• iPhone: Settings → ChefMate → Camera → Allow

If scan results are wrong, try better lighting or use manual entry instead.

Tap Settings → Leave feedback inside the app, or email us directly at the address below. Include your device model and what you were doing when the issue occurred.